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> Demand is increasing due to the college wage premium, which keeps widening with no end in sight even despite Covid and online learning. > The college wage pr

> Demand is increasing due to the college wage premium, which keeps widening with no end in sight even despite Covid and online learning. > The college wage premium is the number one culprit for all these problems . For whatever reason, employers derive enough benefit from college grads to pay them waaaayyy more than high school grads That may be true. But there's an easy fix: any job requirements that ask for any college degree (e.g. "a 4 year degree" not "a BS in chemical engineering") should be illegal. Honestly, I don't really understand why they aren't already: they clearly violate the 4/5ths rule. And it's hard for me to believe that some enterprising lawyer hasn't already brought suit under this theory.

rootusrootus 4y ago
> Honestly, I don't really understand why they aren't already: they clearly violate the 4/5ths rule. And it's hard for me to believe that some enterprising lawyer hasn't already brought suit under this theory. My guess is because 'not having a college degree' is not any kind of protected class. Not an immutable characteristic. It is a behavior choice. Do we really want to get the gov't involved in telling private companies what qualifications they can require for a particular job?
- nordsieck 4y ago
  > My guess is because 'not having a college degree' is not any kind of protected class. Not an immutable characteristic. It is a behavior choice. Do we really want to get the gov't involved in telling private companies what qualifications they can require for a particular job? That is true. But race and sex are protected classes. And the 4/5ths rule says that if a particular requirement generates a resulting distribution that is more than 4/5ths different from the general population, then it is presumed to be a form of structural discrimination[1]. From what I understand, a requirement that is necessary for the job - for example, a particular degree like Chemical Engineering - would be exempt. But I doubt that the requirement for a college degree without regard to the subject would be similarly protected. --- 1. This is not idle conjecture on my part. There were a number of pretty high profile firefighting tests that were the subject of lawsuits for this very reason. And the cities lost. Sadly, I didn't save the test at the time and I suspect that they've been lost of the mists of time, but I did read at least one of the tests in question, and it was a bunch of firefighting related questions.
  - sjy 4y ago
    Interesting question. https://old.reddit.com/r/AskHR/comments/h9vavc/doesnt_griggs_v_duke_power_make_requiring_a/ https://old.reddit.com/r/AskHR/comments/h9vavc/doesnt_griggs...

rootusrootus 4y ago

> Honestly, I don't really understand why they aren't already: they clearly violate the 4/5ths rule. And it's hard for me to believe that some enterprising lawyer hasn't already brought suit under this theory. My guess is because 'not having a college degree' is not any kind of protected class. Not an immutable characteristic. It is a behavior choice. Do we really want to get the gov't involved in telling private companies what qualifications they can require for a particular job?

nordsieck 4y ago
> My guess is because 'not having a college degree' is not any kind of protected class. Not an immutable characteristic. It is a behavior choice. Do we really want to get the gov't involved in telling private companies what qualifications they can require for a particular job? That is true. But race and sex are protected classes. And the 4/5ths rule says that if a particular requirement generates a resulting distribution that is more than 4/5ths different from the general population, then it is presumed to be a form of structural discrimination[1]. From what I understand, a requirement that is necessary for the job - for example, a particular degree like Chemical Engineering - would be exempt. But I doubt that the requirement for a college degree without regard to the subject would be similarly protected. --- 1. This is not idle conjecture on my part. There were a number of pretty high profile firefighting tests that were the subject of lawsuits for this very reason. And the cities lost. Sadly, I didn't save the test at the time and I suspect that they've been lost of the mists of time, but I did read at least one of the tests in question, and it was a bunch of firefighting related questions.
- sjy 4y ago
  Interesting question. https://old.reddit.com/r/AskHR/comments/h9vavc/doesnt_griggs_v_duke_power_make_requiring_a/ https://old.reddit.com/r/AskHR/comments/h9vavc/doesnt_griggs...