UPDATE: Better off without college?

Posted at 9:30 PM on September 1, 2009 by Paul Tosto (0 Comments)
Filed under: Education

Given that most current Minnesota job vacancies require only a high school diploma, we asked this morning if job seekers in Minnesota were better off without a college degree.

Well, don't leave school just yet.

Trend data we got this afternoon from the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development show the percentage of job vacancies requiring at least a two year college degree rising steadily over the decade.

It still surprises me that more than half the vacancies in a deep recession don't require a college degree. Seems incongruous when national data show the unemployment rate for those with a college degree is half the rate for people with only a high school degree (4.7% vs. 9.4%).

If anyone has any thoughts on this please post below or drop me an email.

UPDATE: Monte Hanson with the MN Department of Employment and Economic Development forwarded these thoughts from Steve Hine, the department's top labor economist:

• 27 percent of all the open jobs in the job vacancy survey are for temporary positions and 41 percent are for part-time positions. Given those factors, it would make sense that more than half (56 percent) of the available jobs don't require anything beyond a high school degree.

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