The United States is facing shortages of middle-skills credentials (certificates and associate degrees) that provide pathways for early-career workers to secure jobs in occupations that are high-paying for workers without a bachelor’s degree.
A new report from the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce finds that these projected shortages present substantial opportunities for men and women of all races/ethnicities to increase attainment of credentials aligned with high-paying middle-skills occupations. High-paying middle-skills occupations for early-career middle-skills workers (ages 18–35) offer median annual earnings of more than $55,000, but just one in four of these early-career workers is in a job that meets this threshold.
Bridging the Middle-Skills Gap examines the projected shortages of credentials that offer pathways to high-paying middle-skills occupations across five occupational groups.