How Employers View an Associate Degree

Multiple studies and federal government data show that generally the more education a worker has, the higher the earnings. Chris Geary, a senior policy analyst at the Center on Education & Labor at New America, a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank in Washington, D.C., notes that the wage gap between high school and college graduates has increased since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

"We also see that unemployment rates are lower for people with associate degrees compared to people who never attended college," he says. "In real terms, people benefit from completing associate degrees, and that is rewarded in the labor market through employers.”

However, those rewards often vary regardless of what type of credential a worker earns, Geary notes. “The economic benefits of college completion differ substantially by race, gender and program of study. Despite the average economic benefits of a college education, we see significant racial and gender inequities in employment and the income outcomes of college graduates.”

Workforce-oriented associate degrees tend to pay off the most, especially those in nursing, engineering, technologies and computer programing, Geary says. “I do think there are opportunities for associate degrees in those fields and related fields and new fields that haven’t come yet. I think there is a way for associate degrees to play an important role in providing people with access to good jobs.”

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