Entering the skilled technical workforce after college

By 2017, about 6 years after college entry, 58 percent of 2011–12 beginning postsecondary students were working and not in school and, among these workers, 9 percent held skilled technical workforce (STW) jobs that required high-level technical expertise but not a bachelor’s degree.

Seventeen percent of male workers in the cohort held STW jobs compared with 4 percent of female workers.

Compared with workers in skilled professional workforce (SPW) jobs, which require high-level technical expertise and a bachelor’s degree, proportionally more workers in STW jobs were Hispanic, from low-income backgrounds, and had parents who did not have college education.

The median salary for workers in STW jobs was $35,900, which was higher than the median salary for all workers ($28,000) and for those in nontechnical jobs ($25,000). STW workers’ salaries did not vary with socioeconomic indicators like family income and parental education.

Compared with workers in nontechnical jobs (75 percent of the study sample), STW workers were more likely to be offered a variety of workforce benefits, to work in jobs related to their college majors or in their career paths, and to be satisfied with their jobs.