Job Growth and Education Requirements is a comprehensive new report from the Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce that projects job growth by industry and occupation to 2020.
The report covers a lot of ground, including detailed job forecasts by state. But what I found most interesting was their assessment of the most sought after job skills in high-wage, high-growth occupations.
As the chart below (from the report) shows, five of the top 12 skills most valued in the economy are communications related.
The other in demand skills tend to be related to information processing such as critical thinking, complex problem solving and decision making.
Since the study authors are college professors working at a university think tank, it's not surprising the report stresses the importance of post secondary education.
Despite this caveat, I agree with their conclusion - most future jobs will require education beyond high school.
I don't think this education has to come from traditional colleges. Online education and other forms of learning will also work for many.
But having said that and despite the expected growth of online education, traditional colleges and universities will likely remain key sources of instruction for at least the foreseeable future.
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