Congressman Krishnamoorthi Hosts Panel on Skills-Based Hiring, Equitable Workforce Initiatives, and Ending Degree-Based Discrimination In Hiring

PALATINE, IL – Today, Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi led a panel at Harper College focused on skilled-based hiring practices and equitable workforce initiatives, including fighting degree-based discrimination in hiring.

With the continued emergence of automated Recruitment Management Systems (RMS), qualified candidates who have developed the skills required to succeed in a job through means such as internships, apprenticeships, and work experience are being filtered out of applicant pools by computerized screening processes simply because they do not have a bachelor’s degree. Congressman Krishnamoorthi’s bipartisan Opportunity to Compete Act would prevent applicants from being discriminated against for not having a four-year degree so they could instead be evaluated on their qualifications to do the job well, opening up more opportunities for American workers and expanding the pool of skilled workers for businesses. As the lead Democrat and Ranking Member of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Congressman Krishnamoorthi recently brokered a landmark, bipartisan agreement of 150 policy recommendations to reset the economic and technological competition with the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Like the Opportunity to Compete Act, these policies will strengthen the U.S. workforce and benefit American companies, workers, and consumers. Today’s expert panel consisted of Opportunity@Work Senior Manager on Insights, Gina Rosen; HIRE360 Executive Director, Jay Rowell; Testing Center Manager at Haper College, Joe Scrima; and Korn Ferry and District 211 Board of Education Member, Steven Rosenblum.

“I want to thank all of our panelists for participating in today’s discussion on how we can strengthen workforce development and provide more opportunities for American workers with skills-based training,” Congressman Krishnamoorthi said. “As we invest in our workforce to strengthen our economy, we also must ensure that applicants with the skills necessary to succeed in a job are not discriminated against for not having a four-year degree. My bipartisan Opportunity to Compete Act will help ensure that Americans who have developed the skills necessary to succeed in a job don’t hit a ‘paper ceiling’, namely that they are not rejected merely because they lack a piece of paper in the form of a four-year degree. As we work to strengthen our middle class and win our economic competition against the CCP and other adversaries, it is critical that we expand apprenticeships and skills-based education while also ensuring that the workers benefitting from them can reach their full potential so our economy can do the same.”

Roughly two-thirds of Americans do not have a bachelor’s degree, but many have acquired the skills necessary to succeed be other means. The Opportunity to Compete Act embraces skills-based hiring and equitable workforce practices to ensure the ever-changing American economy is as diverse and talented as possible. According to a 2021 study, more than 90% of employers reported using a RMS to automate the screening of job applicants, and nearly half reported using education level as a filter. Yet approximately 90% of employers agreed that qualified candidates are excluded from consideration because their resumes do not match the exact criteria of the RMS.

This results in qualified workers being locked out of good jobs, and it pressures Americans to take on significant debt for degrees they may not need. The Opportunity to Compete Act would ensure that job applicants who do not possess a bachelor’s degree are not preemptively rejected on this basis by computerized hiring systems without due consideration of alternative qualifications. The bill achieves this by requiring employers who use automated degree requirement settings in hiring systems to disclose the expected years of experience applicants need and allow the person to substitute years of experience in lieu of a four-year degree. The text of the bill is available here.