Degree Attainment Gaps Persist for Latino Students

Latinos are expected to make up the majority of new workers in five years, but their degree attainment lags behind what employers will need, according to a new analysis by Excelencia in Education, an organization dedicated to Latino student success.

The analysis, published Tuesday, cited a projection that Latinos will represent 91 percent of new workers and a fifth of all U.S. workers in 2031. But nearly 75 percent of jobs are expected to require a degree or postsecondary training in the coming decades, and stubborn degree-attainment gaps for Latinos persist.

The good news is that associate and bachelor’s degree completion among Latino adults has increased over the last decade, according to the analysis. Latinos’ attainment of associate degrees or higher increased eight percentage points, and their attainment of bachelor’s degrees rose six percentage points between 2015 and 2024, increases similar to those among Black, white and Asian adults.

Yet a smaller share of Latinos hold college degrees compared to other groups. Only 31 percent of Latino adults have an associate degree or higher, compared to 41 percent of Black adults, 54 percent of white adults and 68 percent of Asian adults. An even smaller share of Latinos, 22 percent, hold bachelor’s degrees compared to 30 percent of Black adults, 43 percent of white adults and 61 percent of Asian adults.

To improve Latinos’ degree attainment, the report makes recommendations, including that state and federal lawmakers invest more funding in institutions that serve high numbers of Latino students and institutions ramp up efforts to re-enroll students with some college but no degree.