Report: 68 percent of Iowa jobs will require postsecondary education by 2025
BUSINESS RECORD STAFF Oct 5, 2015 | 8:14 pm
2 min read time
420 wordsAll Latest News, Education, Government Policy and LawGov. Terry Branstad and Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds today announced a goal for 70 percent of Iowans to have attained education or training beyond high school by 2025. Currently, 60 percent of Iowans have some education or training beyond high school.
The administration made the announcement in conjunction with the release of a new report it conducted in collaboration with the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce. The report, Iowa: Education and Workforce Trends Through 2025, estimates that 68 percent of all jobs in Iowa are expected to require education and training beyond high school by 2025, which positions Iowa 18th among the states and three percentage points above the national average.
The report also projects that Iowa will add 612,000 jobs to its economy between 2010 and 2025, or a net of nearly 250,000 new jobs when replacement jobs for retirements are factored out. Iowa’s economy will grow from 1.59 million jobs to 1.84 million jobs between 2010 and 2025, the report said.
“Education or training beyond high school is the new minimum in today’s increasingly knowledge-based, global economy,” Branstad said in a release “The Georgetown Center report gives us a strong baseline for setting an ambitious goal of 70 percent of Iowans in the workforce having two- and four-year college degrees, certificates, and other valuable credentials and experience by 2025.”
The report projects that the 68 percent of jobs requiring postsecondary education will include 39 percent in the “middle-skills” category that require at least some college or an associate degree, while 21 percent of jobs will require a bachelor’s degree and 8 percent will require a graduate degree. The remaining 32 percent of jobs will require a high school diploma or less.
The occupation trends show that social science, education, community services and arts, and STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) are projected to have the largest shares of jobs that require postsecondary education and training, whereas blue-collar and food and personal services will offer higher salaries and be more readily available to workers with a high school diploma or less.
Three “Future Ready Iowa Roundtables” will be held this month, the first scheduled for Tuesday in Waukee, to discuss how to strengthen Iowa’s talent pipeline. Branstad and Reynolds will join business, labor, nonprofit and education leaders as well as high school and college students in the hourlong discussion. The forum is open to the public and will be held at 10 a.m. at the Waukee Community School District’s Prairieview Theater Arts Center, 655 SE. University Ave., Waukee.
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