Dismissed by Degrees: Degree Inflation and the Middle Class

HBS Faculty Lead Joseph Fuller's research exposes how degree inflation is undermining U.S. competitiveness and hurting America's middle class

Degree inflation—the rising demand for a four-year college degree for jobs that previously did not require one—is a substantive and widespread phenomenon that is making the U.S. labor market more inefficient. Postings for many jobs traditionally viewed as middleskills jobs (those that require employees with more than a high school diploma but less than a college degree) in the United States now stipulate a college degree as a minimum education requirement, while only a third of the adult population possesses this credential.

Read the entire report at HBS.edu