Report: Half of state’s labor force holds bachelor’s degrees
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Harvard University Arts and Sciences graduates react as degrees are conferred on the school’s campus in Cambridge, Mass. in 2012. According to a report to be released Wednesday by the independent Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center, half of all workers in Massachusetts held a bachelor’s degree or higher in 2016.
BOSTON >> A new report finds that half of all workers in Massachusetts held a bachelor’s degree or higher in 2016, marking the first time any U.S. state has reached that threshold.
The same analysis by the independent Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center shows that college-educated workers on average earn 99 percent — or nearly double — the wages of those in the labor force with only a high school education.
Nationally, the so-called “college wage premium” was 56.6 percent last year.
The report being released Wednesday cites data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey.
In Massachusetts, 50.2 percent of individuals participating in the state’s labor force had attained bachelor’s degrees or higher. The next highest state was New Jersey at 45.2 percent, followed by New York, Maryland and Connecticut.
