Degree inflation: production supervisor postings requiring degree rose from 16% to 67% since 1970
Harvard Business School and Burning Glass Technologies found 67% of production supervisor job postings require a bachelor's degree, up from 16% in 1970; yet only 16% of working production supervisors hold such a degree, revealing degree inflation that excludes millions of qualified workers.
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Why this stat matters
This figure belongs to the socioeconomic mobilityvertical of JobCannon's ongoing review of hiring, AI, and career-outcome research. We track it because it is one of the few primary-source estimates with a published sample, methodology, or legal record. Cite the original source first; this page exists to make the figure easy to find and link to.
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