Fewer People Getting GEDs

(AP) – Fewer Connecticut residents are getting general equivalency high school diplomas as they find it easier to get low-skilled jobs in the good economy.

With the state’s unemployment rate at a historical low of 2.9 percent, employers are “grabbing anybody they can because there’s no one out there,” said economist Peter Gioia of the Connecticut Business and Industry Association.

The number of people taking general equivalency diploma tests has decreased steadily since 1995, according to the state Department of Education. More than 7,700 people took the GED test in 1995, compared to the 7,000 who took the test in 1999. That is a nine-percent decrease.

Education officials say the reason for the decrease doesn’t appear to be because fewer people are dropping out of high school. The statewide drop-out rate decreased only 1.5 percentage points to 3.3 percent between 1995 and 1999.

Richard Caneschi, regional director of ASI Temps, an East Hartford employment agency, said his company gets frequent calls from employers who don’t require high school diplomas or GEDs for many jobs.

“Those are non-skilled jobs,” Caneschi said. “They pay $7, $7.50 an hour.”

He said workers without high school diplomas can pick and choose among those low-skilled jobs because companies have lowered their hiring standards, prompted by the low unemployment rate.

But Caneschi said workers are taking a risk by not obtaining their GEDs.

“They’re thinking short-term,” Caneschi said. “They’re not thinking about what could happen. They would be so much better with their diploma.”

Carl Paternostro, of the state Department of Education’s Bureau of Career and Adult Education, said workers without diplomas should not be content to go from one entry-level job to another.

“They can’t advance,” he said.

Gioia, of the business and industry group, said workers who lack GEDs “are really doing themselves a disservice, for the simple reason that these jobs are getting more and more complicated.”

“People with less education are more vulnerable, certainly,” Gioia said.