US educational attainment and employment-ratios fall behind international counterparts

In 2000, the United States was among the global leaders in educational attainment, boasting the third-highest percentage of its 25- to-64-year-old population with a postsecondary degree across the 38 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) nations. However, over the past two decades, the U.S. has gradually slipped in the rankings, falling to ninth place by 2022 even as the percentage of the population with a postsecondary degree increased from 36% to 50%. As international competitors like Japan, Canada, South Korea, and the United Kingdom continue to outpace the U.S.’ growth, the U.S. faces many challenges in maintaining its competitive edge in an increasingly educated world.

Figure 1, below, illustrates the percentage of each nation’s population aged 25 to 64 having attained any postsecondary degree (undergraduate degree or higher) across all OECD nations in select years from 2000 to 2022.

Figure 1: Percentage of 25- to-64-year-olds with at least a college education by nation and year

Canada has consistently been one of, if not the top nation in educational attainment across the OECD since 2000, followed by Japan and, more recently, the Republic of Korea. In 2022, these nations stood at 63%, 56%, and 53% of their respective 25- to 64-year-old populations having attained a postsecondary degree.

The U.S.’ distance to the OECD average has decreased, beginning at 14 percentage points higher in 2000 and slowly falling to nine percentage points higher in 2022. The U.S.’ percentage point decrease reveals that other nations have either maintained their values, or improved their educational outcomes at a faster rate than the U.S.

Figure 2, below, shows the same data, but organized so that each nation’s changes over time are easier to see.

Figure 2: Percentage of 25- to-64-year-olds with a bachelor’s degree or higher by nation and year

As most colleges and universities require a high-school diploma or equivalent to attend college and receive a degree, looking at high-school completion may provide a possible explanation for these trends.

The U.S. boasts one of the highest rates of high-school completion among OECD nations, ranking first in 2000 and sixth in 2022. Even as its ranking falls, the percentage is trending upwards (87% to 92%).

Many of the top nations’ high postsecondary attainment relative to population listed above—such as the Republic of Korea and Canada—have similar rates of high-school completion, but higher rates of postsecondary attainment. This reveals a disconnect between graduating high-school and attending college for a large amount of Americans.

Refer to Figure 3 below for more information.

Figure 3: Percentage of 25- to-64-year-olds with at least a high-school diploma by nation and year

While having an educated population is good, it is not beneficial to an economy if these individuals do not participate in the labor market. Figure X below shows the employment-to-population ratios of 25- to 64-year-olds by their highest level of educational attainment for 2022.

Across all levels of education, most OECD nations are between 75% to 80%, with the OECD average at 78% and the U.S.’ value at 75%.

This trend of the U.S. being below the OECD average holds across all strata of educational attainment, with the largest gap occurring for the population of 25- to 64-year-olds with a high-school diploma as their highest level of education, where the U.S. is just over six percentage points beneath the OECD average, and ranks fifth lowest of the 28 nations (Japan does not have available data for this metric, but ranks above the OECD average for those strata for which it does).

Refer to Figure 4 for more information.

Figure 4: Employment-to-population ratio of 25- to-64-year-olds by nation, year, and educational attainment

The U.S. falls the furthest from the OECD average for its ratio of individuals having achieved high-school diplomas as their highest level of education, at 71%, which is seven percentage points from the OECD average. Referring back to Figure 3, the U.S. has maintained the percentage of its population with at least a high-school diploma above 90% for many years. It continues to slowly trend upwards, revealing a major disconnect between high-school graduation and attaining a job in the U.S.

This article was prepared by SSTI using Federal funds under award ED22HDQ3070129 from the Economic Development Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce. The statements, findings, conclusions, and recommendations are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Economic Development Administration or the U.S. Department of Commerce.