Look to the nation?s automotive industry for an example of how the economy has changed the middle class during the last 50 years.
In 1968, few mechanics had earned an education further than a high school diploma. Same with factory workers, and other blue collar laborers.
But according to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, today?s employers in the automotive industry now prefer to hire mechanics who have undergone a postsecondary education program. In 2007, more than one-third of auto mechanics had postsecondary degrees or certifications of some variety.
Jeffrey Stohl, of the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce, calls it the ?upskilling factor? when explaining the present economy?s reliance on workers who have an education beyond a high school diploma.
?We have what I think is the most telling statistic,? says Stohl. ?In 1970, 65 percent of people with just a high school diploma were middle class.?
That number is down. In the last decade, 45 percent of those who had earned a high school diploma had earned middle class wages.
Technology innovation has improved both lives and work productivity over the decades, Stohl said.
But it has also created a labor market that needs employees with more advanced skills. For example, the auto industry requires that mechanics who have computer skills, not just mechanical skills.
Sure, some manufacturing jobs have left the United States, but those jobs that have stayed are performed more efficiently, with a workforce population that is only 9 percent of what it was 30 years ago, Stohl said.
Stohl suggests that not going to college may be more expensive than going to college, in the long run. The lifetime income disparity is about $1 million. Entry into the middle class, for all intents and purposes, necessitates a college degree.
?You will not make it without attaining a college education,? Stohl said.
It used to be that workers could climb their way up through the ranks at a company, and eventually, through promotions and pay raises, earn enough money to raise a family, buy a house and push their children through school.
So now areas like Fall River are trying to catch up ? both in terms of jobs and in terms of educational attainment, Stohl said. Educational attainment plus employment opportunity equals economic development.
?If you give somebody an education, but you don?t give them a job, they?ll be forced to move to wherever that job is,? Stohl said.
Stohl says the key is creating job opportunities and boosting education attainment simultaneously.
?The two pieces have got to work together. You would not build a national atomic lab in Fall River, if you had no one with PhD?s,? said Stohl. ?I think there?s enough evidence you can actually build the two pieces together.?
Email Michael Gagne at mgagne@heraldnews.com.
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