College Grads vs. High School Grads in The Great Recession

Is college worth the cost? Earlier this week, Georgetown University released a report about how education levels impact employment prospects:

Since job growth resumed in early 2010 with the end of the recession, employment by those with a Bachelor’s degree or better has increased by 2 million, while employment by those with an Associate’s degree or some college experience has increased by 1.6 million. Those with some college education or an Associate’s degree have recovered nearly 91 percent of jobs lost during the recession, but are still short of their prerecession employment levels (See Table 1). In contrast, people with a Bachelor’s degree or better have experienced a net increase of 2.2 million jobs over their prerecession levels.
Those with only a high school diploma or less continue to experience job losses, though in much smaller numbers [...]. In part this is due to the financial bubble that created a corresponding bubble in housing and construction jobs. When the housing market recovers, the construction industry will create some demand for workers with a high school diploma or less. Yet, it is hard to expect any substantial job gains in the near future for job seekers with no postsecondary schooling.

Read the report here: The College Advantage: Weathering The Economic Storm [pdf]