Walmart is revising requirements for many jobs, including some at the corporate level, for which it considers college degrees unnecessary.
"We're rewriting job descriptions for our campus (headquarters) jobs to factor in the skills people possess, alongside any degrees they hold," the company noted in a Sept. 28 announcement. "This creates an either/or option for an applicant: to be considered for the job, you can have a related college degree or possess the skills needed for the job, whether through previous experience or other forms of learning."
The company said the change is in line with its belief that "the U.S. workforce system needs to transition to a system that recognizes and understands skills in the same way it recognizes and understands college degrees." Walmart still offers associates opportunities to earn short-form certificates and degree credit hours.
The retail giant is countering a trend known as degree inflation, or the increased demand for a four-year college degree for jobs that previously did not require one. In 2021, about 25.3 percent of Americans aged 25 and older had a high school diploma with no further education while 14.9 percent completed some college but didn't have a degree, according to Pew Research Center.