Post-secondary may be more accurate label for most jobs 'requiring' formal education above high school degree. About 75% of such jobs specify one or two years of training after high school, and only about 33% of those are AA-transfer degrees. BLS projected a few years ago that health related and computer related jobs that require two year terminal degrees would be among fastest growing in near future. Community college I teach at now has a six month prison guard (rapidly growing 'occupation') certificate program. This college is also promoting 'school-to-work' programs (called 'tech prep') in which high school student who combines minimum number of academic courses with technical/vocational courses can, upon graduation, automatically proceed to community college for one or two years of certificate or terminal degree education.
While bachelor degree grads have experienced a relatively positive market for placement in recent years ('economic boom' and all that), placement, as would be expected, is uneven and unequal related to field/discipline. About 25% of bachelor degree grads do work that doesn't require bachelor degree. About 30% of bachelor degree grads live with their parents, due to low wages and/or debt. And while demand for bachelor degree grads is projected to grow for forseeable future, about 33% of bachelor degree grads indicate that they do not utilize skills learned in college to do jobs for which credential was necessary for entry. Moreover, growing number of jobs that 'require' bachelor's degree are being contracted out and assigned to temps. Michael Hoover