Employers Lowering Education Qualifications

Labor shortages and the tightening of labor markets have led companies to lower education requirements when recruiting. Shown in the chart below, the share of postings requiring a Bachelor’s degree or higher decreased within sub-BA occupations during the pandemic.

In collaboration with Emsi Burning Glass, analyses of online job postings shows that labor shortages continue to have a large impact on sub-BA occupations, and companies are forced to lower education requirements or are not able to raise education requirements to fill job vacancies. This trend could indicate that employers are moving to a more skills-based hiring approach.

Despite a spike in the unemployment rate during the pandemic, education requirement were lowered.