Legislation ensuring that workers who don’t have bachelor’s degrees receive fair consideration in hiring is gaining co-sponsors.

Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., and John James, R-Mich., introduced the bipartisan Opportunity to Compete Act in October 2023. Since then, a total of four co-sponsors—two Democrats and two Republicans—have signed on, demonstrating the bipartisan interest in skills-based hiring.  

The legislation would amend the Fair Labor Standards Act to ensure that job applicants who do not possess a bachelor’s degree are not pre-emptively rejected by automated screening systems without consideration of alternative experience such as military service, community college or training programs.

The bill would require that large employers with more than 500 employees that use automated degree requirement settings in hiring systems disclose the expected years of experience applicants need and allow the job candidate to substitute years of experience in lieu of a four-year degree.

Covered hiring systems are defined as “a recruitment management system, recruitment marketing system, applicant tracking system, or any other computer-based system that receives, manages, tracks, evaluates, or responds to applications for employment,’’ according to the legislation.

“As U.S. workers and employers seek to meet the rapidly changing needs of the 21st century, it is imperative that we eliminate discrimination against workers who meet every qualification for the jobs for which they are applying except for having a bachelor’s degree,” Krishnamoorthi said. “The Opportunity to Compete Act will address this issue by ensuring prospective employees are evaluated based on whether they have the relevant skills and experience to do the job rather than whether they have a four-year degree.”

Experts have said that automation and other advances in recruiting technology have made it significantly easier for job seekers to apply for jobs and for employers to screen resumes, which led to an increase in requirements like educational criteria as a way to filter applicants out.

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