As college costs and student debt have Americans doubting the value of higher education, there’s growing interest in high-paying jobs that don’t require a degree – and in public policy supporting training for them. But six-figure jobs that skip a bachelor’s degree do require more than a high school diploma and remain rare, according to an analysis released Monday by Niche, a higher education platform.
The highest salaries for workers without a bachelor’s degree are typically in jobs gated by federal certification or specialized training, including commercial pilots, air traffic controllers, elevator installers and nuclear reactor operators, the study shows.
The findings counter an emerging narrative about the prevalence of six-figure jobs in the skilled trades that don’t require higher education. Politicians and business leaders have touted careers in electrical work, HVAC and plumbing earning more than $100,000, arguing that a four-year degree is unnecessary for financial security.
While those jobs offer healthy salaries, research shows their median earnings are more modest than salaries for less common occupations that don’t require a bachelor’s degree.
Using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Niche economist Allison Shrivastava found that only 9.4 percent of occupations with a median wage of $100,000 or more don’t require a bachelor’s degree. Those occupations account for just 0.3 percent of 13.8 million annual openings projected across every occupation in which a bachelor’s is not a prerequisite.
There are four times as many openings that do not require a bachelor’s degree, but the jobs generally pay less. On average, the median earnings for those occupations are around $45,000 a year, compared with $96,000 for job openings seeking people with a bachelor’s degree, according to the analysis.
“There’s a little bit of romanticizing the trades,” Shrivastava said. “There are some trade jobs that you can make six figures right out the gate, but they are more the exception than the rule.”
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She said that doesn’t discount the power vocational training has to lift people out of poverty and provide economic success. But those workers have less earning potential than people with a bachelor’s degree, and can have a harder time finding work in other fields without additional training, Shrivastava said.
A study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research found the college wage premium – the extra pay degree holders make compared to workers with only a high school diploma – doubles over a worker’s lifetime, from 27 percent at age 25 to 60 percent at age 55. Workers with college degrees obtain jobs in professions with greater scope for on-the-job training and wage growth, according to the study.
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