In March 2022, then-Maryland Governor Larry Hogan launched a "first-in-the-nation" initiativethat eliminated four-year degree requirements for thousands of government positions. The move aimed to fill numerous job vacancies. Since then, at least 19 states have followed suit, either approving policies to assess whether degree requirements should be removed or eliminating them outright.

Policymakers expect these initiatives to help fill state government vacancies by providing new employment opportunities for workers without a four-year college education. At the same time, these policies may also send a signal to private-sector employers, encouraging them to look beyond four-year degrees and focus on other measures of skill, said Tameshia Bridges Mansfield, vice president of workforce and regional economies at Jobs for the Future, in an email. This opens the door to employment and advancement for more people, Bridges Mansfield said. However, while these policies support workers without degrees, some experts say these changes will not diminish the importance of college diplomas, which will still influence hiring decisions and salary levels.

Ben Wildavsky, a visiting scholar at the University of Virginia and a higher education expert, said in an email that regardless of what requirements state governments or private employers list in job descriptions, employers are likely to continue to place high value on degrees when hiring. "Higher education is certainly not perfect, but we have good reason to believe that degrees command a wage premium because graduates develop a broad set of targeted skills that are very useful for building a solid career," he said.

What is driving this trend?

Over the past decade, degree requirements in job descriptions have helped employers screen hundreds of online applications, said Ryan Craig, managing director of Achieve Partners and author of the book "Apprentice Nation." Companies use applicant tracking systems that match keywords in resumes against keywords in job descriptions, filtering out applicants with insufficient match rates. Craig said "bachelor's degree" is an important search term in job descriptions, helping to narrow the applicant pool to a manageable size—thereby leaving those without degrees unseen.

But persistent labor shortages are driving a bipartisan policy movement to remove degree requirements, said Nicole Smith, chief economist at Georgetown University's Center on Education and the Workforce, in an email. She noted that the unemployment rate has remained below 4% since January 2022, leaving many state positions vacant for extended periods. Additionally, during the COVID-19 pandemic, a growing number of private-sector employers removed bachelor's degree requirements for many middle-skill and some higher-skill positions, includingIBM、Accenture、Google, and Delta Air Lines, among others.

Between 2019 and 2022, a growing number of employers emphasized skills rather than degrees in LinkedIn job listings,a recent study by the social media companyfound. In many industries, paid job listings on the platform that did not require degrees grew far faster than those that did—354% faster in financial services, 282% faster in accommodation and food services, and 240% faster in technology, information, and media.

But relaxing degree requirements does not necessarily translate into hiring decisions. According to LinkedIn's research, hiring of non-degree workers in these industries grew far more slowly than the job listings suggested. In accommodation and food services, hiring of workers without professional degrees was only 11% faster than those with degrees; in financial services, 6% faster; and in technology, information, and media, only 3% faster.

The enduring value of college degrees

Wildavsky believes that state laws and the "trendy push for skills-based rather than degree-based hiring" have the potential to dampen demand for degrees.Polling showsthat Americans' views of higher education have deteriorated sharply over the past decade. Last year,about three-quarters of surveyed teenagersbelieved a two-year degree or technical certificate was enough to find a good job, while 41% believed a four-year degree was necessary, according to a survey of 1,000 respondents aged 13 to 18.

Wildavsky said this is a real problem because it could mislead many Americans, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds, into having a mistaken view of the benefits of postsecondary education. Over the past 80 years, the number of people earning college diplomas has surged, fromless than 10% in 1940to 2021, whenabout 38% of adults held a bachelor's degree or higher。

Georgetown's Smith said the fastest-growing occupations are using higher education and training more intensively. Ina new report, the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce projects that workers will increasingly need higher levels of education to succeed in the modern economy. By 2031, the report's authors estimate that 72% of jobs will require higher education or training—up from about 68% in 2021. The 2031 projection includes 42% of jobs requiring at least a bachelor's degree. Smith said state policies reducing bachelor's degree requirements will not affect this trend. "Even if states remove the bachelor's degree as an entry-level job requirement, they are not removing it as a requirement for promotion or for more senior positions," Smith said.

Research also shows that workers with a bachelor's degree earn about 75% more over their lifetime than those with only a high school diploma,and this wage gapexists because the positions employers are trying to fill increasingly require higher education and skills, Wildavsky said. The wage gap "does not arise because state bureaucrats impose degree requirements in job descriptions," he said. Despite the tight labor market—low unemployment and high job vacancies—there is little reason to believe that thehigh wage premiumassociated with college degrees will decline anytime soon, Wildavsky said.

Other solutions are also needed

Bridges Mansfield of Jobs for the Future said skills-based hiring is only the first step in a solution to provide employment and career advancement opportunities for those without degrees. She said that as employers plan for future business needs, they also need to help employees understand what skills they already have and what skills they need to learn to perform well in their current roles or advance in their careers. Additionally, Pell Grants covering the cost of short-term certificate programs "could be a game changer," Bridges Mansfield said. Congress is considering a bipartisan bill that would allow federal Pell Grants to apply to higher education programs as short aseight weeks—far shorter than the current minimum requirement of 15 weeks.

However, even without degree requirements, employers still need to screen hundreds of applications, and this dilemma may ultimately leave early-career workers behind. "It doesn't necessarily mean it becomes easier for job seekers to apply for jobs; it just means the screening criteria at the top of the funnel that limit whether you're seen are changing," Craig said. "That doesn't necessarily help people who are trying to launch their careers."

Craig said Colorado's policy could serve as a more effective model for other states to follow. Colorado Governor Jared Polis, a Democrat, signed anexecutive orderin September requiring state agencies to significantly expand apprenticeship programs. Craig said that in the face of experience gaps, "the only way to solve this problem is some form of apprenticeship where you actually gain experience."