Men with more of these may have trouble getting hired

Conventional thinking says that having an advanced degree makes you more attractive as a candidate for the job you want. More education means better job prospects and separating you from a crowded field of candidates holding only a bachelor’s degree. However, that’s not exactly the story when it comes to recent employment numbers.

In the US labor market, 74.6% of men 25 and older holding only a bachelor’s degree were employed in February, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, via Bloomberg. When compared to men with advanced degrees, that number is higher: 72.7% of men with advanced degrees held employment.

The report said that men with advanced degrees have a lower unemployment rate compared to those with just a bachelor’s degree, but they’re not as likely to be in the labor force. In this case, the labor force means “either working for pay or actively looking for a job,” according to the report. For numbers, 77.9% of men with a bachelor’s degree were in the labor force in February, but only 75% of men with advanced degrees.

Thera are some things to note. Per Bloomberg:

The phenomenon has yet to receive any attention from researchers, as far as I’ve been able to discover. Men with graduate and professional degrees make up only 6% of the country’s 25-and-older population, and those who do have jobs are the highest-paid people in the labor force. This is not a disadvantaged group in need of attention. Some highly credentialed male labor force dropouts may have just gotten rich and retired early.

The Harvard Business Review recently posed the question if going to graduate school is worth it. The report highlighted an interesting finding regarding the value of an undergraduate degree: one-third of adults in the US are college graduates, a far higher number than when the number was at 4.6% in the 1940s.

The argument for an advanced degree really relies on the individual but the report noted that going to graduate school could mean a 25% increase in earnings on the average employee. For those going to the best MBA programs, that number could rise as much as 150%.

For those looking to change careers, it could also be the shape-shifter needed to get you moving in the right direction. Even as technology continues to change the way in which we work, the need to “reskill and upskill” cannot be more important than now.

This takes a little Nostadramus on your end but envisioning where you want to be and the industry where you see yourself settling could be a game-changer.

“If you set yourself up to be a strong candidate for jobs that are in high demand, you risk being too late to the game by the time you graduate,” the report said. “For instance, if everyone studies data science in order to fill unfilled vacancies, in a few years there will be a surplus of candidates. A better strategy is do your research and try to predict what the in-demand roles will be in the future.”