Introduction to "Preparing Today's Students for Tomorrow's Jobs in Metropolitan America"
Penn collection
Access and Completion in Higher Education
Degree type
Discipline
Subject
Policy and Administration
Curriculum and Instruction
Education
Educational Administration and Supervision
Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research
Educational Methods
Higher Education
Secondary Education
Funder
Grant number
License
Copyright date
Distributor
Related resources
Author
Contributor
Abstract
Although disagreeing about how much of an increase is requred, most scholars agree that the United States must raise the educational attainment of its population in order to meet the knowledge requirements of future jobs (see Zumeta 2010 for a discussion of this debate). In Help Wanted: Projections of Jobs and Education Requirements through 2018, Anthony Carnevale, Nicole Smith, and Jeff Strohl (2010) attempt to quantify this need. They project that, by 2018, about two-thirds (63 percent) of all jobs (including both new and replacement jobs) will require at least some postsecondary education or training, up from 59 percent in 2008 and just 28 percent in 1973 (Carnevale, Smith, and Strohl 2010). Their projections further suggest that "most job openings for people with a high school education or less will be low-wage jobs, and many of these will be part-time or transition jobs" (Carnevale 2010: vii). Carenvale, Smith, and Strohl demonstrate int heir chapter in this volume that workers with postsecondary education will have access to a wide range of occupations, whereas workers with no more than a high school diploma will be concentrated in blue collar, sales and office support, and food and personal services occupations.