Are decredentialed jobs a route to upward mobility?

Thomas Lyttelton, Dylan Nelson and Nathan Wilmers

No 4kgj9_v1, SocArXiv from Center for Open Science

Abstract: Prominent employers, from Microsoft to the State of Maryland, are increasingly dropping college degree requirements when hiring. Does this provide upward mobility for workers without a college degree? Matching job postings to hires in US administrative data, we show that employers have reduced the share of posts requiring a college degree by more than 10% since 2011. Non-college workers who move to jobs that have dropped degree requirements see substantial and enduring upward mobility. Compared to similar workers on similar pre-hire earnings trajectories, they earn a $6000 per year premium that endures for at least five years after the job move and across subsequent transitions. These hires are more likely to be Black, Hispanic, and female than incumbent workers. Employers also see benefits, as removing degree requirements reduces labor costs: although non-college workers hired into decredentialed jobs earn more than similar non-college workers, they make less than college graduates hired in the same job. Despite these benefits, most employers that drop explicit college requirements continue to hire college graduate applicants into those positions. We find suggestive evidence that employers struggle to integrate new non-college hires and that they face backlash from existing employees. Overall, decredentialed jobs are a promising route to upward mobility for disadvantaged workers, but only when employers follow through beyond job posting language.

Date: 2025-08-13
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:osf:socarx:4kgj9_v1

DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/4kgj9_v1

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