Not if the reason people get those degrees is to get better jobs. If the proportion of degree holders is the same across all jobs, why should someone pay tens of thousands in tuition, plus the opportunity cost in lost wages, for that degree?

I don't really think that is a realistic reason to pursue higher education. Without even getting into some of the deeper conversations, there are only so many "better" jobs to go around. 80% of the jobs out there pay less than $50K per year, and just $45K per year for 75% of the jobs. Meanwhile, if you are aged 25-29, 30% of your peers have a degree. Therefore, 33% of college graduates in that age group are basically guaranteed to make less than $50K per year and many of them will fail to even make the $45K threshold. Not to mention that in reality, percentage is even larger than that as a significant number of non-college graduates live in the top 25% of earners.

Furthermore, 18% of university graduates fail to even earn $20K per year and just 24% of the top 1% have a non-graduate degree as their highest level of education attainment. I see no compelling reason to even begin to think you would go to college to get a better job, unless that job is in a specific field where the law requires (doctor, lawyer, etc.) Someone still has to drive the taxis. Having a degree doesn't put you above such work and the more people obtain their degrees, the greater chance someone with a degree will take on such work.

With that said, college still has merit and should not be discounted. Finding a job at the end should be one of the last reasons you consider attending.

> Finding a job at the end should be one of the last reasons you consider attending.

I agree with this if you're rich, or else qualify for a free education like a scholarship or the GI Bill. But for most people, college is a significant investment and should be treated like one. Why should someone take out mortgage sized amounts of debt for no other reason than to learn something interesting? Is that a responsible use of borrowed money?

With such overwhelming evidence that a degree does not make for a good investment in most cases, and enrolment rates only increasing, there must be something else attracting people. My hunch is that people want to look important. Similarly, taking out a massive loan to drive a brand new BMW doesn't make financial sense either, but lots of people still do it because it shapes their image.

Put another way -- how many upper-middle class professionals (doctors/lawyers/engineers) would you say have graduated from college? Many, many more than 1 in 5. You can't deduce data about specific occupations from a broad statistical measure like overall percentage of bachelor's degrees in a population.