I rummaged up the numbers from the BLS this fall for unemployment vs. education over the past 10 years. They came out to something like this: No HS degree: > 1

I rummaged up the numbers from the BLS this fall for unemployment vs. education over the past 10 years. They came out to something like this: No HS degree: > 10% unemployment HS/some college: 7-9% unemployment Associates: 5-7% Bachelors+: 4% Seasonal fluctuations drop dramatically as education levels go up. I have heard anecdotally that Masters+ is 2%, but the BLS did not provide data there. The BLS did not quantify the jobs (e.g., the MA in English working as a barista qualifies as employed). My conclusion is this: the data recommends a degree for employment, statistically speaking.