Education Level and Unemployment Rate

As education level rises from less than a high school diploma to a doctoral degree, weekly earnings climb steadily from 738 dollars to a peak of 2,363 dollars for professional degree holders, while unemployment drops from 6.2 percent to roughly 1.2 percent. The steepest gains in both earnings and job security appear at the bachelor's degree mark, where earnings rise by about 40 percent over an associate's degree, and unemployment falls by nearly half. 

It is worth noting, though, that every step up the credential ladder still shows meaningfully better outcomes than a high school diploma alone, including some college with no degree and an associate's degree. This is the heart of the argument in the blog post. A bachelor's degree is not the only path to a stable, well-paying career, but some form of structured education or training beyond high school is consistently associated with greater job stability and higher pay.