Unnecessary Upskilling

When the local unemployment rate rises by one percentage point, the share of jobs requiring a bachelor’s rises by 0.44% and 2+ years of experience by 0.79%. Call this “opportunistic upskilling.” When the reverse occurs, there’s a 0.2% decrease in the share of jobs requiring a bachelor’s and a 0.22% decline in jobs requiring 5+ years of experience, partially explaining the large number of job openings yet limited wage growth.