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Projected jobs not to require college degree, study finds

According to the Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Policy, 1.2 million jobs will become available between 2012 and 2022. GRAPHIC BY KATELYN PILLEY/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF
According to the Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Policy, 1.2 million jobs will become available between 2012 and 2022. GRAPHIC BY KATELYN PILLEY/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Within the next decade, many jobs that are expected to become available in Massachusetts will require less than a bachelor’s degree, a Monday report by Northeastern University’s Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Policy found.

Between 2012 and 2022, those with associate’s degrees or a vocational education will fill many of the 1.2 million jobs expected to become open in Massachusetts, the report stated.

Barry Bluestone, founding director of the Dukakis Center, said these job openings do not come from a growth in employment.

“We have this huge number of jobs that need to be filled not because of growth in employment but because of the need to replace workers who will be leaving the jobs they are in now,” Bluestone said. “That puts tremendous pressure on the vocational high schools and community colleges and other training institutions to make sure we have an adequate supply of workers to fill those jobs.”

The report found that of the 1.2 million openings, 63 percent will require less than a bachelor’s degree and 33 percent will require no more than a high school degree. Research showed that vocational school graduates would be able to fill nearly 11.7 percent of the job openings by 2022, the report stated.

Bluestone said he was not surprised by the findings and that turnover rates of the occupations studied would allow for so many job openings.

“It’s a lot of jobs in the health care center. It’s jobs in food preparation and the leisure and hospitality industry, construction workers,” Bluestone said.

Approximately nine percent of all Massachusetts workers have less than a high school degree while nearly 24 percent of workers have no more than a high school degree, according to the report. Among the projected job openings between 2012 and 2020, the report found, 33.2 percent will require at most a high school degree.

Bluestone said requests from regional vocational high schools for new equipment prompted research for the report.

“The head of the [Massachusetts School Building Authority], who I know well, came to me and said, ‘I’m interested in finding ways to fund [the vocational schools], but before I do that, I want to make sure that [they] are training young people in the skills that we need tomorrow rather than necessarily the skills of yesterday,’” Bluestone said.

Dukakis Center examined projections from the U.S. Department of Labor to estimate the number of possible job openings available in each of 675 occupations between 2012 and 2020. The reported gathered information about current state workers and vocational school administrators through surveys and data sets.

Several residents, unaware of the Dukakis Center report, said the findings were positive for those who don’t choose to or can’t pursue higher education.

Monica Kim, 28, of Allston, said that while her occupation might not necessarily be affected by the findings, she supports equality among job opportunities.

“In the current society, it might be a disadvantage for people who don’t have higher education, so in that sense, I think I can see [the findings] as being a good thing,” she said.

Emma Weizenbaum, 24, of Roslindale, said she is an advocate of trade schools and sympathized with those who are unable to afford the rising cost of higher education.

“There are probably a lot of individuals where college is not necessarily the best path, and it is also a very expensive society-required path,” she said. “There should be more of a push to make sure there are trade schools and ways of supporting that type of education.”

Allyson Fitzgibbons, 25, of South Boston, said that she sees both sides of the argument regarding the predicted availability of jobs that won’t require more than a high school degree.

“I see how it creates opportunities for adults that can’t afford higher education for sure, but I also see how people who have higher education might think that now they’re overqualified,” she said. “But it’s great for the people that don’t have the same privileges as others.”

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