Education required, but at what level?

• Author: Rogers, Carol O.

There is much in the news about employers struggling to find skilled workers. And there are many workers and students uncertain about what skills and educational requirements they should focus on. Labor market researchers throughout government work hard to convey that information through a variety of tools and resources from federal and state agencies and regional workforce boards based on occupation (job title) and the requirements for that occupation. This article will focus on the determination of education requirements for those occupations.

Saying "this job requires a certificate in welding" or a "bachelor's degree in business" is, believe it or not, easier said than done. Companies that employ people generally set out requirements in their job postings, but those requirements may not actually be "required" if the people being hired have skills (soft and hard) that the employer wants and the company is willing to train.

There are actually multiple sources for data on education requirements by occupation--the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. Department of Labor, the U.S. Census Bureau's various surveys, the job postings themselves, as well as independent surveys of businesses.

The intent and collection methods behind each of these sources is important when comparing the often coinciding, but sometimes conflicting, education requirements. To that end, we have delved deep into the methods and results of each of the major sources of education requirements by occupation and produced an interactive tool to help users understand the differences among the sources in a coherent way (see Figure 1).

O*NET data are reported by incumbents working in that occupation, while some are reported by occupation experts. Even when incumbents provide survey responses, they are reviewed and may be adjusted by occupation experts.

ACS and CPS data are survey responses of incumbents, but each person provides their job title, rather than an occupation code at the time of the survey. Those job titles are then translated into occupation codes by a third party.

Another difference between ACS/CPS and O*NET data is what the incumbents report. O*NET incumbents report the typical minimum education level required for their occupation, whereas ACS and CPS incumbents report their personal highest level of education, which may be higher or lower than the minimum level required by employers for the occupations they hold.

Aside from differences in data sources and...