The Crisis in Adult Education; Education is a Key Factor in Fueling Economic Growth, But the Educational Attainment of Our Workers is Slipping Badly. New Strategies are Needed to Help Undereducated Adults‪.‬

During the past several decades, a dramatic increase in the educational attainment of the U.S. labor force has helped boost worker productivity and fuel national economic growth. However, the demographic forces that produced this increase have ended. Unless the United States makes some fundamental adjustments in its national strategies for the education of adults, labor force attainment will stagnate, productivity will lag, and economic growth will suffer. The historic increase in educational attainment was driven by the fortunate confluence of two factors. First, the baby boomers, huge numbers of them, began working. From 1960 to 2000, the number of workers in their prime productive years (ages 25 to 54) increased by more than 120%, from about 45.5 million to 100 million workers. Second, these new workers were much more highly educated than their elders. For example, in 1960 only 60% of workers in the 25-to-29 age group had a high-school diploma or better and fewer than 8% had a bachelor's degree or higher. But by 1990, 84% of this group of younger workers had a high-school diploma and 22% had a bachelor's degree.