The Second Machine Age: Work, Progress, and Prosperity in a Time of Brilliant Technologies

by Erik Brynjolfsson

However, another part of the college premium is less encouraging. More and more employers are requiring college degrees, even for entry-level jobs. As Rampell writes, “The college degree is becoming the new high school diploma: the new minimum requirement, albeit an expensive one, for getting even the lowest-level job. . . . Across industries and geographic areas, many other jobs that didn’t used to require a diploma—positions like dental hygienists, cargo agents, clerks and claims adjusters—are increasingly requiring one.”19 This ‘degree inflation’ is troubling because a college education is expensive and causes many people to go into debt. By the end of 2011, in fact, student loan debt in America was greater than either total outstanding car loans or credit card debt.20 We hope that MOOCs and other educational innovations eventually provide a lower-cost alternative to traditional colleges, and one that is taken seriously by employers, but until that time comes a college degree remains a vital stepping stone to most careers.