Most jobs that require a bachelor's degree today did not require one a generation ago.
The bachelor's degree as a standard hiring filter expanded dramatically in the second half of the twentieth century. In 1970, only 26 percent of job postings in the United States required a four-year degree. By 2015, that figure had risen to over 60 percent for many white-collar roles, even when the actual work had not changed.1
Economists call this phenomenon "degree inflation." A position that once required a high school diploma and on-the-job training now lists a bachelor's degree as a minimum qualification, not because the work demands it, but because the supply of degree holders makes it possible to screen for one.2
The Griggs v. Duke Power Co. decision of 1971 played an inadvertent role. The Supreme Court ruled that employment tests must be demonstrably related to job performance.3 Employers who could no longer rely on aptitude tests turned to degree requirements as a proxy for competence, even though a four-year degree was no more validated as a predictor of job performance than the tests the court had struck down.
Harvard Business School and Accenture published a 2017 study finding that degree inflation was excluding more than six million American workers from jobs they were qualified to perform based on skills and experience.4
A counter-movement emerged in the 2020s. In 2022, the state of Maryland removed four-year degree requirements from thousands of state government positions.5 Companies including Google, Apple, and IBM publicly dropped degree requirements for certain roles. The Tear the Paper Ceiling campaign, led by Opportunity@Work, advocated for hiring based on skills rather than credentials.
Globally, the pattern varies. In Germany and Switzerland, vocational apprenticeship systems provide an alternative pathway that is culturally respected and economically competitive with university education.6