Despite recent misgivings over the value of a college education, a new report indicates that an increasing percentage of high-quality jobs will require a four-year degree.

The study, “The Future of Good Jobs: Projections through 2031,” was written by the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce (CEW) and is optimistic about job availability as the economy enters the Artificial Intelligence era. But those new jobs will increasingly go toward college-educated people capable of managing the new technology.

“We are going through a time of major economic change that carries both promise and uncertainty,” said CEW director and lead author Jeff Strohl. “The good news, though, is we foresee substantially more good jobs by 2031, spurred by greater productivity enabled by new technologies (and) stronger growth among high-skill/high-wage occupations.”

According to the report, by 2031, two-thirds of the nation’s good jobs — defined as paying at least $43,000 to younger employees and $55,000 later in their careers, with a median income of $85,000 — will go to college graduates. Another 19% will require “middle skills” including associate degrees and trades certification.

The report projects that managerial and professional office occupations will be the largest source of good jobs in 2031 — accounting for nearly a third of all good jobs — and 84% of good managerial and professional office jobs will require a bachelor’s degree. Other significant sources of good jobs on the bachelor’s degree pathway include education, training and library specialists; healthcare and technical professionals and computer and mathematical science.

“While the value of college faces growing skepticism, our report affirms that the bachelor’s degree pathway will be the dominant route to a good job in 2031, with a majority of good jobs forecasted to lie on the bachelor’s degree pathway,” said Catherine Morris, report co-author and senior writer/editor at CEW.

The findings are consistent with the mission of local college advocates, including CFES Brilliant Pathways of Essex, N.Y., which guides disadvantaged high school students toward the successful completion of a college degree.

“The bottom line is that the best-paid and most satisfying jobs still require a college degree, and this will become increasingly true in the next decade,” said CFES President and Co-CEO Rick Dalton.

A leader in spotting academic trends and helping students and educators adjust, CFES has identified AI as a generational game-changer in the business world that will impact a great majority of future jobs and careers. Those who react quickly to those changes will have the best chance of success in this new world, Dalton said.

AI and its impact on academics and the workforce will be the subject of CFES’s annual conference in Burlington, Vt., on Nov. 18-19. Open to academic and business professionals and others, “The College & Career AI Revolution: Get Ready Now” will feature speakers who will talk about the future of work, the impact of AI on jobs and the human qualities that machines cannot replicate.

To view the Georgetown report, on the future of work, including a detailed overview of promising occupations on each educational pathway, visit: https://cew.georgetown.edu/goodjobsprojections2031.

To register for “The College & Career AI Revolution: Get Ready Now” conference, visit https://brilliantpathways.org/our-program/national-conference.