The amount of jobs that require a college degree will continue to steadily increase
by more than 40 percent. It is apparent that the demand for highly skilled labor has
increased as well as the need for additional schooling and training to fulfill them. In fact,
the number of American workers with some post-secondary schooling increased from 28
percent in 1973 to 59 percent in 2000 (Carnevele and Desrochers, 2002). According to
Carnevale and Desrochers (2003), this disparity between worker skills and employer
demands will produce shortages of workers with college level skills projected to reach 12
to 14 million by 2020.