No college degree? That's a growing hurdle to getting hired

The Chicago Tribune reports:

Employers are raising their educational requirements for new hires, a trend that troubles workforce development experts who say it puts jobs out of reach of those who need them most.

Nearly a third of employers say they have increased their educational requirements over the past five years, according to a recent survey by Chicago-based job search engine CareerBuilder.

Thirty-seven percent of companies say they hire college graduates for positions that in the past were primarily held by people with only high school degrees, and 26 percent say they hire people with master's degrees for jobs that used to go to candidates with bachelor's degrees.

Asked why, 60 percent of the employers hiring college grads over high school grads said skills for those positions have evolved, requiring more highly educated workers. More than half said a tight labor market has allowed them to attract college grads to jobs that traditionally haven't called for higher education.

The excess supply of college degrees create a big problem for the low skilled.