Is Graduate School Worth It? A Comprehensive Return on Investment Analysis
While the value of education cannot be completely distilled down to the earnings one will obtain afterwards, programs that burden students, both undergraduate and graduate, with debt that they will struggle to repay are a problem. In this piece, the return on investment (ROI) — the increase in lifetime earnings minus the costs of attending school — for nearly 14,000 graduate degrees was assessed. You can read more about the methodology of this analysis here.
Shifting Skills, Moving Targets, and Remaking the Workforce
The amazing research team at the Burning Glass Institute, in collaboration with BCG, recently released a report highlighting how the speed of technological advancement and recent societal shifts in response to the COVID-19 pandemic have resulted in large, dynamic changes in the skills required for modern work. Specifically, they analyzed millions of job advertisements for the skills required from 2016 to 2021 for the same job titles to obtain insights into new, in-demand skills.
Four big trends in skills change emerged:
• Digital skills in nondigital occupations
• Soft skills in digital occupations
• Visual communication
• Social media skills
Reports like this shine a light on how being flexible and able to learn and adapt to a changing world are critical. In addition, both technical and human skills are essential to succeed in the modern workplace.
