It now takes a college degree to qualify for low-skilled work
ATLANTA The college degree is becoming the new high school diploma: the new minimum requirement, albeit an expensive one, for getting even the lowest-level job.
Consider the 45-person law firm of Busch, Slipakoff & Schuh here in Atlanta, a place that has seen tremendous growth in the college-educated population. Like other employers across the country, the firm hires only people with a bachelors degree, even for jobs that do not require college-level skills.
This prerequisite applies to everyone, including the receptionist, paralegals, administrative assistants and file clerks. Even the office runner the in-house courier who, for $10 an hour, ferries documents back and forth between the courthouse and the office went to a four-year school.
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Economists have referred to this phenomenon as degree inflation, and it has been steadily infiltrating Americas job market. Across industries and geographic areas, many other jobs that didnt used to require a diploma positions like dental hygienists, cargo agents, clerks and claims adjusters are increasingly requiring one, according to Burning Glass, a company that analyzes job ads from more than 20,000 online sources, including major job boards and small- to midsize-employer sites.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/takes-b-job-file-clerk-201707507.html
And the cost to get that 4-year degree is becoming increasingly expensive. It's a buyers market for employers. They can hire college educated people for cheap salaries because so many people are looking for any job.
It's the new reality.