The Great Credential Inflation: Why a Master's Degree Became Both Required and Worthless
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The Great Credential Inflation: Why a Master's Degree Became Both Required and Worthless
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About this listen
A master's degree for entry-level jobs. Five years of experience for roles that didn't exist five years ago. Certifications, skills, portfolios—and it's still not enough. This isn't about you not being qualified. It's credential inflation: a broken system where degree requirements exploded while entry-level salaries stagnated.
We trace how this happened: why employers demand degrees they don't need, how résumé screening algorithms locked these requirements in place, and how student loan securitization created a $1.7 trillion debt market that profits from credential inflation. We follow universities expanding graduate programs that cost six figures but lead to jobs paying $41,000 a year. Then we find something unexpected: some companies hire without degree requirements—and they're faster, cheaper, and find better people.
So why isn't everyone doing it?
An investigation into the hidden economics of hiring, student debt, and why the job market broke—and what it would take to fix it.