States Are Leading the Way in Tearing the ‘Paper Ceiling’ and Making Good Jobs Available to Workers Without Degrees

A shift to skills-based hiring instead of degree-based hiring is not only a sensible public sector reform to find qualified workers in a tight labor market but can also unlock economic mobility for millions of workers who have been overlooked for decades. Numerous states are reviewing roles to determine which ones have unnecessary degree requirements, while others have already removed degree requirements from 90% of state jobs. This Brookings blogpost explores these low-cost actions as pathways to open state hiring processes to more applicants and improve economic mobility for qualified workers who have been excluded from state hiring systems.