Figures on educated work force

Even as the cry goes out for more educated workers to fill the jobs that are expected to spring forth from an information-based economy, the number of college graduates in the work force is higher than ever before. The US Labor Department says that in March of this year there were 20.2 million people with four or more years of colleges among the 83.6 million 25- to 64-year-olds who are employed. That figure represents an increase of 1.4 million college graduates since March 1982 - nearly 24 percent of the work force.

At the other end of the spectrum, the number of workers without high school diplomas dropped nearly 500,000 this year from last.