Skilled through alternative routes explained

Skilled through alternative routes (STAR) is a term to describe adults in the United States without bachelor's degrees who have work experience and skills that position them for transitions to higher-wage jobs.^[1] First identified in a 2020 research paper in the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), STARs made up approximately 70 million workers in the U.S. economy as of 2021.^{[2] [3]}

Description

The majority of American workers (approximately 64% as of 2020) do not have a four-year bachelor's degree,^{[4] [5]} including 68 percent of Black workers and 79 percent of Hispanic workers.^[6]

STARs have gained skills through a variety of routes other than the four-year college degree, often including community college, workforce training, bootcamps, certificate programs, military service or on-the-job learning. Research from December 2020 indicates that 30 million STARs have the skills to earn 70 percent more than their current wages.^[7] However, 60 percent of STARs who changed jobs over the past decade transitioned to new positions with the same or lower wages than their previous position.^[8]

Proponents of supporting STARs argue that a more intentional approach to hiring, training, and recruiting STARs can help to increase the representation of non-white individuals in the workforce.^{[9] [10]}

Further reading

• Web site: Casey . Marcus . Maciolek . Ashleigh . Opportunity, policy, and the future of automation . Brookings . 2020-12-21 . 2021-09-09.
• Web site: Lewis . LaShana M. . Equity . director of the St. Louis . Op-ed: I broke barriers as Black woman in tech without a degree. Hire more workers like me . CNBC . 2021-01-09 . 2021-09-09.
• Web site: deLaski . Kathleen . Bing . Eric . Retraining Workers Is the Key to Solving Job Needs. 2020-04-14 . 2021-09-09 . U.S. News & World Report.
• Web site: Blumenstyk . Goldie . The Edge: The Equity Argument - and a New Tool - for Skills-Based Hiring . The Chronicle of Higher Education . 2020-06-03 . . 2021-09-09.

Notes and References

1. News: Blair . Peter Q. . Skills, Degrees and Labor Market Inequality . National Bureau of Economic Research . 2021-07-01 . 2021-08-19 .
2. Web site: Blair . Peter Q. . Searching for STARs: Work Experience as a Job Market Signal for Workers without Bachelor's Degrees . National Bureau of Economic Research . 2021-04-01 . 2021-04-01 .
3. News: Auguste . Byron . The majority of Americans lack a college degree. Why do so many employers require one? . The Washington Post . 2021-07-20 . 2021-08-19 .
4. News: Census . U.S. . U.S. Census Bureau Releases New Educational Attainment Data . U.S. Census . 2020-03-20 . 2021-04-01 .
5. News: Blair . Peter Q. . The Disparate Racial Impact of Requiring a College Degree . The Wall Street Journal . 2021-06-28 . 2021-04-01 .
6. Web site: STARs: Skilled Through Alternative Routes . Opportunity@Work . 2021-04-01 . 2021-04-01 .
7. News: Lohr . Steve . Up to 30 Million in U.S. Have the Skills to Earn 70% More, Researchers Say . The New York Times . 2020-12-03 . 2021-04-01 .
8. News: Fain . Paul . Job Transitions for Skilled Workers Without Degrees . Inside Higher Ed . 2020-12-04 . 2021-04-01 .
9. News: Baskin . Kara . 5 ways to close the tech industry's race gap through education . MIT Sloan . 2021-03-24 . 2021-04-01 .
10. News: Chopra . Karan . We shouldn't chase economic recovery; we should chase economic redesign . Fortune . 2020-07-19 . 2021-04-01 .