Note: Opportunity jobs are those that don't require a bachelor's degree. 

Questions:

• Are you surprised to see any of these jobs on the list as you assumed they required a bachelor's degree?
• There has been much talk of automation recently. Which jobs do you think are most at risk of being replaced through automation? 
• 47% of Bookkeepers have a bachelor's degree while 53% do not. Who do you think has more job security and a higher wage: the bookkeeper with a bachelor's degree of the one without one? 
• Does this change your thinking about the importance of a college degree? Why or why not? 

Behind the numbers (from the NY Times):

To figure out how many of these jobs are open to people without degrees, the researchers scoured nearly 30 million local job ads across 121 metropolitan areas to determine their minimum educational requirements. They called them “opportunity jobs.”

Their findings offer a sliver of hope for the future of the American worker. About 22 million jobs — over one in five across the metropolitan areas in the study — pay more than the median wage. They include some surprises. For all the talk that you need a bachelor’s degree these days to become a registered nurse, 66 percent of available registered-nursing jobs did not require one. Many make do with an associate degree.

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Check out our Data Crunches for more opportunities for your students to analyze data. 

About the Author

Tim Ranzetta

Tim's saving habits started at seven when a neighbor with a broken hip gave him a dog walking job. Her recovery, which took almost a year, resulted in Tim getting to know the bank tellers quite well (and accumulating a savings account balance of over $300!). His recent entrepreneurial adventures have included driving a shredding truck, analyzing executive compensation packages for Fortune 500 companies and helping families make better college financing decisions. After volunteering in 2010 to create and teach a personal finance program at Eastside College Prep in East Palo Alto, Tim saw firsthand the impact of an engaging and activity-based curriculum, which inspired him to start a new non-profit, Next Gen Personal Finance.