COABE joins skills-first hiring campaign for 70 million workers

COABE is backing the Ad Council and Opportunity@Work’s Tear the Paper Ceiling campaign to push employers toward skills-first hiring for workers without four-year degrees. The effort aims to expand access to better-paying jobs for the more than 70 million U.S. workers who are Skilled Through Alternative Routes, or STARs.

Why it matters: - The campaign targets a major barrier in hiring: degree screens that can block STARs from higher-wage jobs even when they have the needed skills. - Opportunity@Work says employer and policymaker action has already halted a long decline in STAR access to good-paying jobs, with 783,000 more STARs in those roles than projected. - The coalition says there is a path to open access to at least 10 million higher-paying jobs for STARs by 2030.

What happened: - COABE announced support for the Tear the Paper Ceiling public awareness campaign led by the Ad Council and Opportunity@Work. - The announcement came during Adult Education and Family Literacy Week. - The campaign asks employers and decision makers to adopt skills-first hiring and recognize workers who gained skills through apprenticeships, certifications, military service and on-the-job training.

The details: - STARs make up half the U.S. labor market, or more than 70 million workers. - The coalition says STARs face a “paper ceiling” made up of degree screens, biased algorithms, stereotypes and limited professional networks. - Over the last 40 years, the wage gap between STARs and workers with bachelor’s degrees has doubled. - Adjusted for inflation, STARs now earn less on average than they did in 1976. - LinkedIn research shows hiring managers who start with skills are 60% more likely to find a successful hire. - Since launching in 2022, the campaign’s PSAs have driven two million visits a year to TearThePaperCeiling.org. - The campaign says 83% of employers are now more likely to hire workers without bachelor’s degrees than they were 2–3 years ago. - The campaign says 92% of employers are interested in hiring people who gained skills through routes other than a degree. - The latest PSAs, called “Story Unfold,” were created pro bono by Ogilvy and directed by STAR filmmaker Loris Russier. - The ads use a crumpled paper that unfurls to reveal a STAR’s face.

Between the lines: - COABE’s role fits its broader mission to build pathways for adult learners into credentials, careers and higher earnings. - COABE highlighted partnerships with Google, eCornell, the Online Entrepreneurship Institute and NCCER as examples of routes that can help adult learners convert skills into opportunity. - The campaign’s growth suggests skills-first hiring has moved from a niche idea to a mainstream employer conversation. - The employer adoption data points to a market shift, but the wage and access gaps show the degree premium is still powerful.

What's next: - The coalition is steering employers and STARs to resources at TearThePaperCeiling.org, including playbooks, guides, case studies and career development materials. - COABE will keep promoting adult education pathways that connect learners to industry-recognized credentials and work-based learning. - The campaign will continue pushing employers to look beyond degrees and evaluate candidates based on skills and experience.

The bottom line: - COABE is adding its voice to a national effort to make skills, not pedigree, the default filter for hiring.