No degree needed
The follow are the median salary ranges for jobs that don’t require a four-year degree, according to PayScale.com:
Administrative Assistant:$23,421-$48,187
Sales/Marketing Manager: $31,121-$106,383
Quality Assurance Inspector:$25,111-$71,333
Registered Nurse: $42,727-$82,093
Police Officer $30,757-$81,485
Electrician: $29,679-$80,787
Your chances of landing a good job without a college degree are higher in Dayton than most other metros in the state, based on a recently released study that found about a third of jobs in the local area that don’t require a four-year degree pay wages above the national median.
Dayton is one of eight metro areas in Ohio that have above average shares of so-called “opportunity occupations,” or jobs that are generally accessible without a four-year degree that pay a decent wage, according to the study from the Federal Reserve Banks of Cleveland, Philadelphia and Atlanta.
Using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment Statistics, the study found the Cleveland area has the highest share of opportunity occupation employment with 36 percent of jobs falling into that category.
Meanwhile, Dayton, Canton and Youngstown each have roughly 30 percent of employment in opportunity occupations, according to the study, which included Akron, Cincinnati, Columbus and Toledo as metros with above average opportunity occupations.
Such occupations include general and operations managers; bookkeeping, accounting and auditing clerks; heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers; general maintenance and repair workers; and secretaries and administrative assistants.
Topping the list of jobs that pay well but don’t require a four-year degree were registered nurses, whose annual salaries can top $59,000, according to PayScale.com, a widely used salary comparison website.
That’s almost twice the national median wage of $28,851 for an individual in 2014, or the wage at which half of workers earned more and half earned less.
However, many opportunity occupations, including registered nurses, are becoming increasingly difficult to land without at least some college, and many employers now say their ideal candidates would have bachelor’s degrees even in positions that historically have not required one.
“You can become an RN going through a two-year program…but if I were hiring, and two candidates presented themselves, I would probably go for the person with the four-year degree,” said Jolyn Angus, chief nursing officer at Miami Valley Hospital. “If I’m hiring somebody with a two-year degree now, we actually ask that you get on a plan to go back to school and get a four-year degree.”
Still, a college degree may be out of reach for many Dayton area residents who can’t afford sky high tuition or simply lack the scholastic aptitude to complete four years of college. But that doesn’t mean they have to settle for a dead-end job, according to Rich Little, president of Starwin Industries in Dayton, a contract manufacturing facility serving the aerospace and automotive industries.
“Whenever I look through our plant, about 30 people or so, I think there are only a couple of college degrees in the whole place. But they make a good living,” said Little, referring to the machinists, technicians and operations managers, who all have specialized training.
He declined to be specific, but Little said advances in the manufacturing industry have forced wages up for qualified workers.
“Manufacturing is strong. It’s just more high-tech,” he said. “The things that we do here, some pretty high level machining and specialty items, take a really high skill level, and I have to I have to pay for that.”
Jim Bowman, vice president of operations for Rack Processing Co. in Moraine — a custom fabricator of electroplating racks — said entry-level salaries for workers right out of high school are 25-30 percent above the state minimum wage of $8.10 per hour.
“That’s just starting out. Once you get in the door, you’re wages move up pretty quickly. I’d say workers who’ve been with the company eight to 10 years are earning between $35,000 and $40,000 a year,” Bowman said.
While the bank study readily acknowledges the vast majority of jobs that don’t require a college degree are low-wage occupations, such as bartenders and retail salespeople, the lack of a degree doesn’t have to hold you back from even the highest positions in industry.
“I started as a machinist out of vocational school. I don’t have a college degree. But I’ve been president here for 10 years. That’s a fairly decent career path,” said Starwin’s Little said.
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