We keep hearing that many young people doubt the need to obtain a college degree as a pathway to securing a good job. But a recent report published by the Georgetown Center on Education and the Workplace dispels that notion.

After Everything: Projections of Jobs, Education and Training Requirements through 2031 provides an overview of job projections and the level of education required to do those jobs across a wide variety of industries and occupations. Among its findings are that 72 percent of jobs will require postsecondary education and/or training by 2031.

The authors of the report write that two factors affect this projection. First, the fastest-growing industries (those that will have the need for the most workers) will require their workers to have “disproportionately higher education levels” when compared to slower-growth industries. Second, jobs overall are increasingly calling for more education as the tasks in those jobs become more complex.

The report noted several key findings:

• By 2031, over 40 percent of all jobs will require a bachelor’s degree at a minimum.
• The fastest-growing industries between 2021 and 2031 will be healthcare services, professional and business services, government and public education services, as well as leisure and hospitality.
• Healthcare will add 4.2 million new jobs within the same time period, greater than any other industry, and will be the third largest provider of jobs in the U.S.
• AI will not wipe out entire job sectors but will rather eliminate certain job tasks, affecting 28 percent of all tasks in current positions. The change will require employees in those jobs to acquire additional education and/or training (upskilling and reskilling).

College-educated workers will fare better as automation plays a larger part in business and industry because employers will be more willing to retrain workers with a college degree, rather than a high school diploma, the report states.

By 2031, the report predicts that only 28 percent of all jobs will go to workers with a high school diploma or less. On the other hand, 95 percent of jobs in the managerial and professional sectors will go to graduates with at least some postsecondary education. The managerial and professional sector is broken into five clusters: STEM; education; healthcare professional and technical; community services and the arts; and managerial and professional office.

The report spells out just how much new technology has affected the need for more education to attain gainful employment. The divide between those who do and those who don’t possess this increasingly necessary qualification will have a more difficult time to earn enough to purchase a home and raise a family, making an education the clearest pathway to a middle-class life.