As such, policymakers need to think about new approaches to help non-college-educated workers. It is beyond the scope of this paper to spell out such an agenda in detail, but clearly steps involve greater support for skills development and training, more universal access to health care, and a higher minimum wage must play a key role.
But even this will not be enough given the large share of jobs in the economy that are in low-productivity sectors and occupations. Indeed, nearly 30 million workers without a college degree work in industries where the average wage for non-college-educated workers is less than $25,000 per year, or $12.50 per hour.2 Therefore, the most important policy to boost economic opportunity is one that focuses on shifting the occupational mix toward fewer low-wage jobs and more middle-wage ones.
Policymakers should start by supporting policies that spur automation in occupations that pay poorly and employ a high share of non-college-educated workers. The savings produced by automating some of these jobs increase demand in other parts of the economy. That boosts spending, thereby creating new jobs, many of them middle-wage jobs. This means supporting policies that spur more automation, such as increased funding for productivity-focused R&D and establishing an investment tax credit—or, absent that, permanent first-year expensing for capital equipment.3
For the entire report: https://www.itif.org/publications/2019/12/02/ten-facts-about-state-economy-us-workers-without-college-degrees?mc_cid=58b3b7dfdc&mc_eid=3171ceba53