Open Forum on Degree Inflation’s Impact on Our Workforce (HR Council Q4 2022)
We invite you to join us virtually for our last HR Peer Council Meeting of 2022: An Open Forum on Degree Inflation’s Impact on Our Workforce
On Tuesday, November 1, Co-Chairs Susan Tomlinson Schmidt (Board of Directors, NHSA) and Melanie Lockwood Herman (Executive Director, Nonprofit Risk Management Center) will lead the HR Peer Council in an open forum about how degree inflation impacts our workforce.
In the early 2000s, many employers began adding degree requirements for jobs that hadn’t previously required degrees. The practice widened the economic gap between college-educated workers and the nearly two-thirds of American adults without a degree. This “degree inflation” reached a high after the Great Recession (2008-2009), and ushered in a widespread recognition in both government and business that a reset was in order. Many corporations subsequently began to eliminate degree requirements in much of their hiring.
Today, further accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic, many employers are resetting degree requirements and eliminating the bachelor’s degree requirement for many middle-skill and even some higher-skill positions. The reset will have major implications for how employers find talent and will also provide opportunities for millions of workers.
Join us for an open forum as we explore whether degrees are a good proxy for critical job skills, or if our sector could benefit from resetting some requirements. Share with your colleagues whether your organization is assessing the issue of degree inflation in hiring, and what strategies you are using to adopt new practices.
NHSA’s Peer Councils are networks of senior leaders from among its members, partners and field experts to facilitate shared learning across organizations; bring emerging best practices, policy and research to light; and advocate for systems-wide changes to advance the human service sector. To learn more about participating in or joining the council, please contact Melissa Reifler.