| > It used to be said that a college degree was a ticket to a well-paying job I have never actually heard this said. Can you provide some sources or any kind of quote for this? I've heard references to this having been said, but never an actual source. This is anecdotal, but even my older family members saw college as meeting gating requirements for some jobs, not a promise of getting those jobs. > Now, a few decades later, we're told to get a STEM degree, because other degrees are worthless. I don't think a STEM degree promises you a job, nor is a STEM degree inherently valuable unless you otherwise have the qualifications to work in a STEM field. > Degrees aren't a symbol of skill nearly as much as they are a way for the market to allocate well-paying jobs They're a form of gating, agreed. > and the allocation is getting smaller all the time. That's not clear. For some fields like being a Doctor that seems to be true, but for many fields like being an engineer that's obviously not the case. That being said, I would be surprised if there's a compiled data set that accurately tells us one way or another - the BLS data might be the closest. |
https://www2.ed.gov/policy/highered/reg/hearulemaking/2011/c...
https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/research-summaries/education...