A middle-skills debate in DC - or is there?

On Thursday, Professor Harry Holzer (Georgetown University) issued a response to a recent paper that appeared to question the continuing existence of "middle-skill jobs." Dr. Holzer's analysis, which was posted on the Center for American Progress website, clarifies some of the data and definitional differences between his analysis and that of Professor David Autor (MIT), who presented his paper at a recent DC event co-hosted by CAP and the Hamilton Project at the Brookings Institution. Since some have interpreted Autor's paper as a call away from investments in middle-skill training and toward a focus on traditional college degree attainment, Holzer shows that data confirm a growing demand for workers with postsecondary skills and that a plurality of job demand is still in occupations that require more than high school but not necessarily a four-year degree.