Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Joins Employers Dropping College Degree Requirements

Marc JoffePennsylvania recently followedColorado,Maryland, andUtah in dropping college graduation requirements for many state jobs. This change will ease the task of filling positions in a competitive job market and may increase the diversity of the public sector workforce. But it could also steepen the enrollment decline now afflicting many state colleges and universities.In hisfirst executive order, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro opened up 65,000 state government positions to applicants without college degrees. In the order, Governor Shapiro stated “modernizing the Commonwealth’s hiring model to a model focused on skill, competency, and practical experience, rather than just educational background, will offer new opportunities for all Pennsylvanians to succeed professionally. ”Aside from state governments, many private employers are welcoming more non ‐​degree holders. Among the companies leading the transition to “skills‐​based employment” areAT&T,Microsoft, andUS Bank. The movement away from college degree requirements is being necessitated by labor shortages that developed in the late 2010s and have returned more recently as the economy quickly rebounded from the COVID-19 recession. It is also being pushed forward by non ‐​profit advocacy groups such asOpportunity@Work, whose mission is “to rewire the US labor market so that all individuals Skilled Through Alternative Routes (STARs) can work, learn, and earn to their full potenti...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs