The majority of future good jobs will be accessible through bachelor’s degree pathways.
That’s according to a new report by the Center on Education and the Workforce (CEW) at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. "The Future of Good Jobs: Projections through 2031" reminds readers that higher education has a critical role to play in the future earnings of their students and the stability of the American economy.
“It emphasizes that the four-year degree is very valuable to workers, despite skepticism about that that’s current in some narratives,” said Catherine Morris, senior editor and writer at CEW and an author of the report. “But, simply ensuring you get a degree isn’t enough — it needs to be in a specific area, aligned with labor markets.”
Morris, a former reporter for Diverse, said that postsecondary institutions should partner with local industry leaders to assess their needs and discover which jobs will be most plentiful in the future to better align programs and build pathways into good jobs.
Matthew Muench, head of Jobs and Skills at JP Morgan Chase Global Philanthropy, who helped sponsor the report, wrote in his forward that institutions and their business partners owed it to low-income students to help more complete their bachelor’s degrees and embark in middle skills journeys. Muench called for a greater investment in community colleges, which are often more easily able to pivot and meet local employer needs, as well as investing in workforce development programs, unions, and “other stakeholders to design high quality training for in-demand jobs.”
The in-depth report covers trends that impact the landscape of employment, and how the impending retirement of boomers and the development of AI, particularly generative AI, might impact the workforce. Most boomers are expected to retire, despite some choosing to remain in the labor force, and AI has thrown a level of unpredictability into calculations. But the experts agreed that despite AI’s potential impact, the jobs forecast looks strong through 2031, with more good jobs requiring a bachelor’s degree than in years before.
Artem Gulish, senior federal policy advisor at CEW and an author of the report.
