A working paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research suggests millions of workers have the skills to make significantly more money than they currently do. The idea behind the paper is straightforward—workers without four-year degrees are paid less in part because employers tend to equate degrees with skills. A host of obstacles will slow the move to more skills-based hiring, including that the people who make hiring decisions have college degrees and are unlikely to devalue their own qualifications. A greater focus on skills is therefore more likely to benefit a job-seeker who already holds at least a bachelor’s degree.
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