--- title: "Workers Without a Degree Are Having Their Best Job Market…" canonical: "https://www.metaintro.com/blog/workers-without-degree-best-job-market" language: "en" author: "drashtigarach" published: "2026-09-07T10:28:02.000Z" modified: "2026-09-07T10:28:02.000Z" --- [Back to Blog](/blog) [Labor Market](/blog/tag/labor-market)[Jobs](/blog/tag/jobs)[Economy](/blog/tag/economy)[Education](/blog/tag/education) # Workers Without a Degree Are Having Their Best Job Market in Years Unemployment for US workers without a high school diploma fell to 4.7 percent in August, its lowest in over three years, while graduates stayed flat. [![Drashti Garach](https://cdn.metaintro.com/rs:fill:40:40/q:72/plain/images/5719d740-e510-42bc-8017-e040d145f35f_1766029465094.png)Drashti Garach @DrashtiGarach](/blog/author/drashtigarach) [September 7, 2026](/blog/archive/2026/09)12 min read ![An industrial training workshop with conduit benders and workbenches](https://cdn.metaintro.com/rs:fill:1200:675/q:78/plain/images/10166-trades-training-bay.png) [https://x.com/intent/tweet?text=Workers%20Without%20a%20Degree%20Are%20Having%20Their%20Best%20Job%20Market%20in%20Years&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.metaintro.com%2Fblog%2Fworkers-without-degree-best-job-market](https://x.com/intent/tweet?text=Workers%20Without%20a%20Degree%20Are%20Having%20Their%20Best%20Job%20Market%20in%20Years&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.metaintro.com%2Fblog%2Fworkers-without-degree-best-job-market)[http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.metaintro.com%2Fblog%2Fworkers-without-degree-best-job-market](http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.metaintro.com%2Fblog%2Fworkers-without-degree-best-job-market)[https://www.linkedin.com/sharing/share-offsite/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.metaintro.com%2Fblog%2Fworkers-without-degree-best-job-market&title=Workers%20Without%20a%20Degree%20Are%20Having%20Their%20Best%20Job%20Market%20in%20Years](https://www.linkedin.com/sharing/share-offsite/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.metaintro.com%2Fblog%2Fworkers-without-degree-best-job-market&title=Workers%20Without%20a%20Degree%20Are%20Having%20Their%20Best%20Job%20Market%20in%20Years)[mailto:?subject=Workers%20Without%20a%20Degree%20Are%20Having%20Their%20Best%20Job%20Market%20in%20Years&body=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.metaintro.com%2Fblog%2Fworkers-without-degree-best-job-market](mailto:?subject=Workers%20Without%20a%20Degree%20Are%20Having%20Their%20Best%20Job%20Market%20in%20Years&body=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.metaintro.com%2Fblog%2Fworkers-without-degree-best-job-market) The fastest improvement in the American labour market this year is happening at the end of it with the fewest credentials. Unemployment among workers with less than a high school diploma fell to 4.7 percent in August 2026, down from 6.4 percent in April, according to the [US Bureau of Labor Statistics](https://www.bls.gov/). The Wall Street Journal reported on September 7 that Americans without college degrees are having one of their best job markets in years. At [Metaintro](https://www.metaintro.com), we went to the underlying table rather than the headline, because this particular claim is easy to overstate and the detail changes what you should do about it. Here is what the data supports, what it does not, and where the openings actually are. ## What Does the August Data Actually Show? A clear split in direction between education levels, inside a labour market that is broadly improving. The [August employment situation](https://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm) put total nonfarm payrolls up 162,000 and the overall unemployment rate at 4.1 percent, comfortably ahead of forecasts. The interesting numbers are in [Table A-4](https://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t04.htm), which breaks employment status down by educational attainment for people aged 25 and over. In August the rate for those with less than a high school diploma was 4.7 percent. For high school graduates with no college it was 4.4 percent. For people with some college or an associate degree it was 3.7 percent, and for those holding a bachelor's degree or higher it was 2.7 percent. Read as a snapshot, that is the ordering you would expect and have always seen. More education still lines up with less unemployment, and the gap between the least and most credentialed groups is still two full percentage points. Nothing in this month's data overturns that. Read as a trend, it looks different. The least credentialed group has moved 1.7 percentage points in four months, from 6.4 percent in April through 6.0 in May, 5.5 in June and 5.4 in July to 4.7 in August. Degree holders have barely moved at all, sitting at 2.7 or 2.8 percent every month since April. One group is improving quickly and the other is flat. ## Is This Really the Best Market in Years for Workers Without a Degree? For the least credentialed group, close to it. For high school graduates, no. This is the distinction the headline flattens, and it matters because the two groups are often lumped together as workers without a degree. Take the group with less than a high school diploma first. At 4.7 percent, only three months since 2017 have been lower, and the most recent of those was January 2023 at 4.6 percent. Against a 2019 average of 5.35 percent, this month is genuinely strong by that group's own historical standard. Calling it one of the best readings in years is fair. High school graduates with no college are a different story. At 4.4 percent, this is actually up from 4.0 percent in July, and 66 separate months since 2017 have been lower. Their 2019 average was 3.64 percent, so the group sits well above its own pre-pandemic normal. Whatever is lifting the least credentialed workers has not reached them in the same way. Degree holders are elevated relative to their own history too. A 2.7 percent unemployment rate sounds excellent, and in absolute terms it is, but 85 months since 2017 were better and the 2019 average was 2.11 percent. A graduate market that is flat at a historically weak-for-graduates level is exactly what recent coverage of the [new graduate job market](https://www.metaintro.com/blog/new-grad-job-market-2026-old-entry-level-playbook-dead) has been describing. So the accurate summary is narrower than the headline. Every group is above its 2019 norm. The improvement in the last four months has been concentrated at the bottom of the credential ladder, and the top of it has stopped moving. ## Why Are Employers Hiring at This End of the Market? Because the hiring that is happening is disproportionately in industries that do not screen on degrees. The clearest evidence is in the monthly [Challenger, Gray and Christmas report](https://www.challengergray.com/blog/challenger-report-august-job-cuts-up-58-consumer-products-food-lead), which tracks announced job cuts and announced hiring plans separately. Employers announced plans to hire 12,325 workers in August. That is down from July, but it is up 725 percent from the 1,494 plans announced in August 2025, and it is the highest August total since 2022. Across the year so far, companies have announced plans to hire 119,825 workers, up 37 percent on the same period last year and the strongest January to August total since 2023. The composition is the part worth reading twice. Andy Challenger noted that 46 percent of those hiring plans came from manufacturing industries. Aerospace and defence led all industries for August hiring announcements with 4,025, ahead of technology with 2,520 and industrial goods with 1,856. Those are sectors that hire on skills, certifications and apprenticeships far more than on transcripts. Job cuts tell a complementary story. Employers announced 52,881 cuts in August, the lowest August total since 2022 and down 38 percent on the same month last year. Cuts through August are down 41 percent year on year. The pattern is not a boom so much as a slowdown in destruction combined with a modest pickup in the kind of hiring that never required a degree in the first place. ## Does a Degree Still Pay? Yes, and anyone reading this month's numbers as permission to skip one is reading them wrong. The unemployment gap still runs two percentage points in favour of degree holders, and unemployment is only one measure. Median earnings by educational attainment have consistently favoured degree holders across every year the BLS has published the comparison. What has changed is the reliability of the assumption rather than the direction of it. A degree still improves your odds on average. It no longer functions as the fast, near-automatic route into stable work that it did for the generation that is currently advising people to get one, particularly in the first few years after graduating. The practical consequence is that the decision has become field-specific rather than general. A degree that leads to a licensed or regulated profession still carries most of its old force. A general degree taken on the assumption that employers will value it in the abstract carries much less, which is why so many [employers have been scrapping degree requirements](https://www.metaintro.com/blog/companies-scrapping-degree-requirements-entry-level-hiring-2026) for entry-level roles without much fuss. It is also worth being honest that this month's improvement could reverse. Four months is a trend, not a structural shift, and [factory employment was slipping earlier this year](https://www.metaintro.com/blog/factory-jobs-slipping-2026-blue-collar-workers-next-move) on the same measures that look healthy now. A single strong August does not cancel that. It does mean the door is open wider right now than it has been. ## Which Jobs Are Actually Open Right Now? The ones with a defined training route and a licence or certification at the end. These are checkable rather than anecdotal, and the [Occupational Outlook Handbook](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/) publishes the numbers for each. [Electricians](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/construction-and-extraction/electricians.htm) are projected to grow 9 percent between 2025 and 2035, adding about 75,900 jobs to a base of 821,000. Median pay was 63,190 dollars in May 2025 and the typical entry requirement is a high school diploma, with the training happening through an apprenticeship rather than a campus. [Heating, air conditioning and refrigeration mechanics and installers](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/installation-maintenance-and-repair/heating-air-conditioning-and-refrigeration-mechanics-and-installers.htm) are projected to grow 11 percent over the same period, adding 48,200 jobs, with median pay of 61,010 dollars and a postsecondary nondegree award as the typical entry route. Both grow much faster than the average occupation. Neither of those is a get-rich story and the medians are lower than a lot of graduate coverage implies. What they offer is a documented path, a wage floor that rises with certification, and demand that comes from physical infrastructure rather than from a hiring manager's mood. Pay varies more by licence stage and region than most salary pages admit, which [a full trades salary breakdown](https://www.metaintro.com/blog/skilled-trades-salary-guide-2026-electrician-plumber-hvac-welder-carpenter-machinist) makes clear, and the upper end is reachable in [several trades that pay six figures without a degree](https://www.metaintro.com/blog/15-skilled-trades-six-figures-2026-no-degree). ## What Should You Do If You Do Not Have a Degree? Move while the window is open, and move toward something with a credential attached. The improvement in this month's data is real but it is concentrated and it is recent, and the groups that benefit from a loose market are usually the first to feel a tight one. Start with the apprenticeship route rather than the job board. Apprenticeships pay from the first day, which is the single biggest practical difference from a degree, and the employer carries the training cost. The tradeoff is that entry is competitive and intake windows are fixed, so the timing matters more than it does for an ordinary application. Then treat certification as the thing that actually moves your pay. In the occupations above, the wage curve tracks licensing stages rather than years served, and someone who completes the licensing sequence quickly earns materially more than someone who does the same work uncertified. That is the opposite of how progression works in a lot of office employment, where time served and headcount tend to drive the title, and it rewards people who plan the licensing sequence deliberately rather than drifting through it. Finally, look at where the hiring plans actually are. With 46 percent of announced hiring coming from manufacturing and the largest single month's plans in aerospace and defence, the geography of this market is industrial rather than metropolitan. That is inconvenient if you are not near it, and it is the main reason plenty of people who could take these jobs do not. If you are near it, [skilled trades workers have unusual leverage in this hiring crunch](https://www.metaintro.com/blog/skilled-trades-workers-hiring-crunch-2026) and it is worth using. ## What If You Have a Degree and It Is Not Helping? Stop treating the degree as the qualification and start treating it as one input. Employers hiring into the roles that are actually growing are screening for demonstrable capability, and a transcript does not demonstrate much on its own. The most direct move is to add a certification that maps onto a growing occupation rather than a second degree that does not. Before paying for anything, search the certification name against live postings in your own area and count how many employers actually name it, because a credential nobody asks for by name is a credential nobody is screening on. The ones worth having tend to appear in the requirements section rather than the nice-to-have list, and they usually belong to a licensing body rather than a training provider. This is frequently cheaper, considerably faster, and lands you in the part of the market that is hiring rather than the part that is flat. Plenty of people have done it deliberately, and [the best jobs for a career change](https://www.metaintro.com/blog/best-jobs-for-a-career-change) are mostly the ones where a specific credential does the talking. It also helps to be realistic about what the graduate numbers say. A 2.7 percent unemployment rate is not a crisis, and the problem most graduates describe is not being unemployed but being underemployed and stuck. That is a different problem with a different fix, and it usually responds better to moving than to waiting, which is why [job switchers have been capturing the larger raises](https://www.metaintro.com/blog/job-switchers-7-percent-raises-us-lost-23000-jobs-july-2026) even in slow months. ## Related Articles - [Skilled Trades Quietly Becoming the Most AI-Proof Careers](https://www.metaintro.com/blog/skilled-trades-ai-proof-careers-2026-salary-apprenticeship-guide) - [Companies Pledged to Train a Million Skilled Trades Workers](https://www.metaintro.com/blog/lowes-foundation-building-futures-coalition-1-million-trades) - [How to Become an Aircraft Mechanic With Six Figure Pay and No Degree](https://www.metaintro.com/blog/how-to-become-aircraft-mechanic-2026) - [Elevator Technician Careers and How the Apprenticeship Pays Six Figures](https://www.metaintro.com/blog/elevator-technician-career-guide) - [A Shortage of Openings, Not AI, Is Crushing Gen Z's Job Hunt](https://www.metaintro.com/blog/shortage-openings-not-ai-gen-z-job-hunt-2026) - [Non-Degree Workers Are in AI's Crosshairs and How to Get Out](https://www.metaintro.com/blog/ai-displacing-workers-without-college-degrees) - [Google, Ford and BlackRock Bet Big on Skilled Trades Jobs](https://www.metaintro.com/blog/google-ford-and-blackrock-bet-big-on-skilled-trades-jobs) - [The Nuclear Construction Hiring Wave and the Apprenticeships Behind It](https://www.metaintro.com/blog/nuclear-construction-hiring-wave-apprenticeships-2026) - [Why a Dual Career Path Changes Your Route to a Promotion](https://www.metaintro.com/blog/what-is-dual-career-path) ## People Also Asked ### Q: What is the unemployment rate for people without a high school diploma? A: It was 4.7 percent in August 2026 for people aged 25 and over, down from 6.4 percent in April. Only three months since 2017 have recorded a lower rate for that group, the most recent being January 2023 at 4.6 percent. The figure comes from Table A-4 of the monthly employment situation release. ### Q: Do workers without a degree now have lower unemployment than graduates? A: No. Degree holders were at 2.7 percent in August against 4.4 percent for high school graduates with no college and 4.7 percent for those without a diploma. The ordering has not changed. What changed is the direction of travel, with the least credentialed group improving quickly while degree holders stayed flat. ### Q: Which industries are actually announcing hiring? A: Manufacturing accounted for 46 percent of announced hiring plans in August according to Challenger, Gray and Christmas. Aerospace and defence led all industries for the month with 4,025 announced hires, followed by technology with 2,520 and industrial goods with 1,856. Stay ahead of the market. [Metaintro](https://www.metaintro.com) tracks hiring by employer, industry and location so you can see where the openings are moving before the monthly data confirms it. 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