Degree holders fair better in the job market

The Associated Press reported a few weeks ago that the gap between unemployment rates for college graduates and people without college degrees has increased since the recession. The numbers below show the increase in unemployment rate by education level from December 2007 to August 2010:

– 7.8 percent to 14 percent for people who did not graduate from high school

– 4.7 percent to 10.3 percent for those with just a high school diploma

– 3.9 percent to 8.7 percent for people with some college

– 2.1 percent to 4.6 percent for those with bachelor’s or more advanced degrees

So how is the unemployment rate for college graduates locally? Unfortunately, the Washington State Employment Security Department doesn’t keep data on unemployment by education level. However, their most recent report gives a breakdown of those unemployed people who have run out of unemployment benefits by education level:

– High school graduates: 6,920

– Associate’s degree: 2,980

– College – no degree: 3,222

– BA/BS: 2,586

While these numbers don’t give an unemployment percentage, they do give the impression that those who have completed some form of higher education are having an easier time finding work than those that haven’t. In other words, the take-away message from all of these statistics seems to be “stay in school.”