Introduction
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, unemployment rates have increased to 7.9 percent. The unemployment rate can be defined as the number of people actively looking for a job as to the percentage of the labor force. Although statistics show an increase has occurred, there has also been an increase in higher education jobs. Higher education growth has been steady, stable and greater than overall U.S. jobs. The market share of higher education jobs compared to all U.S. jobs continued to increase and a trend has persisted for several years. Individuals who complete educational programs possess the qualities employers are seeking. These strong qualities include the willingness to learn, initiative, and organizational abilities. By pursuing a high level of education that is consistent with the interests and abilities, the career goals are likely to be reached.
Statement of the problem
Can having a higher education offer you more job opportunities? Is higher education a promise to less risk of unemployment? Are there clear indications that there’s a relationship between higher education and lower unemployment rates?
Objectives
1. The underlying question to be answered is to determine if higher education promises less risk of unemployment?

Hypothesis
Null Hypothesis- The risk of unemployment is not affected by higher education
Alternative Hypothesis- Higher education affects the risk of unemployment
Methods
We are planning to test correlation on SPSS to find if there is a relationship between higher education and unemployment rates. Our methodologies for the research project will hinge on the quantitative approach with our anticipated data from the United States Department of Labor. To achieve our objectives relating to the impact on higher education and its impact on less risk of unemployment, the data will differentiate respondents between employment and the levels of degrees achieved. The bias in our study is the age factor determining unemployment rates and educational level from 25 years and older.

Testing methodologies will include:
1) Correlation utilizing covariance and the correlation efficient measures to identify relationships between variables.
2) Regression (i.e. test predictability of unemployment rates based on data to variables)
3) Analysis of categorical data (level of education)
4) Prove hypothesis is Type II error

Testing Normality

The data consists of two variables; unemployment rate is scaled and referred to as continuous variable, and level of education as categorical or ordinal variable.

In order to analyze our data to prove our hypothesis, we need to know if our data has a normal distribution. Above, the results are illustrated via the K-S test. Our sample size of 520 is stated under the degrees of freedom. The variables indicate they are both not normally distributed. The significant value should be more than .05 if it was normally distributed. In our case, the data has a significant value of .000, which is less than .05 indicating a deviation from normality.

The P-P plot graph is another way to illustrate our data not being normally distributed. They are not nearly symmetrical, but look positively skewed. The data values are deviating away from the diagonal.

Lastly, the histogram shows us it is clearly not normal. There are two peaks indicative of two modes, guilty of bimodal. In a normally distributed data, the mean equals the median equals the mode. This data shows no equality with the mean, median or mode. Therefore, a non-parametric test is performed to measure the relationship between unemployment rates by education level. The significant level of .000 indicates a highly significant relationship.

One non-parametric correlation test is the Kendall’s tau. This test is a better estimate of the correlation in the population. The value of correlation coefficient is closer to zero than the Spearman correlation (it has increased from -.779 to -.635). Though differences in the correlation coefficients exist, the significant value of .000 is still a highly significant relationship.
Another non-parametric test is Spearman’s correlation coefficient. In the table of Spearman’s rho, the significant value for this correlation is less than .05; therefore, there is a significant relationship between unemployment rates and the level of education. In addition, the relationship is showed as a negative: as level of education increases, unemployment rate decreases. As a result, our hypothesis is supported.

Regression Analysis

Regression analysis involves the identification of the relationship between a dependent variable and one or more independent variables. With regards to the study objective, we sort to statically analyze the relationship between our variables (the level of education and unemployment). The dependent variable here, being the rate of unemployment and the predictor variable, level of education. It also provided us the opportunity to ascertain the causal effect of one variable on other as well as facilitate the assessment of the ‘statistical significance’ of the estimated relationship between these variables.

The model summary table above provides both the multiple R-squared and the Adjusted R –squared values. These are both statistically driven from the regression equation to help quantify the performance of our model. The table reveals a simple correlation with an R vale of 0.738 which indicates a higher correlation. The R- square value is however, 0.544 indicating a larger relationship between the dependent variable unemployment, and the predictor variable which in our case is level of education. A 0.54.4percent range explains a percent fit of our model. The adjusted R- square value is a little below the multiple R-square value because it reflects the model complexity (the number of variables) as it relates to our data.

The table below is the ANOVA table. This table indicates that, the regression model predicts the outcome variable significantly well. For instance, considering the Sig. column on the Anova table, we observe that, the significance level is 0.00 (meaning p< .05) which is less than the 0.05 margin for the significance test. It shows that our model is significantly good enough to predict our outcome variable.

The table below, Coefficients, provided us with information on each predictor variable. This indicates to us, which information is necessary to predict unemployment (the dependent variable) from level of education (predictor variable). We can see that both the rate of unemployment (constant) and level of education contribute significantly to the model (by looking at the Sig. column). We also derived our regression equation from the B column under the Unstandardized Coefficients column we can present the regression equation as:
Unemployment = 11.873 + (-2.205) (level of education)

Limitations of regression analysis

The major conceptual limitation of all regression techniques is that you can only ascertain relationships, but never be sure about underlying causal mechanism.

Type II error – Accept the null hypothesis when the alternative hypothesis is true.
In our case we accept the null hypothesis because the alternative hypothesis (Higher education affects the risk of unemployment) is true.

Conclusion
Based on our findings we can conclude that a person with higher education has less risk of being unemployed. The relationships can be seen in our models. In the correlation and regression models we found that the two variables are highly significantly related. In correlation we can indicate that when you are at a higher education level the unemployment rate is less. Our line graph clearly illustrates our analysis. Therefore, our hypothesis stated higher education reduces the risk of employment and it was proven to be true.

Literature Review
Rick Santorum takes heat for ‘snob’ comment against President Obama
By Sandhya Somashekhar and David Nakamura, Published: February 27, 2012
Rick Santorum calls it snobbery to suggest that students ought to go to college. On Monday, several of his fellow Republicans — and President Obama — begged to differ.
Some GOP governors in Washington for the National Governors Association took issue with Santorum’s remark, which he made Saturday as he mounted a last-minute sprint for votes before Tuesday’s primary in Michigan.
“I wish he’d said it differently,” Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell said of Santorum. “When you look at what’s going on in other countries, China, India, the premium they put on higher education — we’ve got to do better if we still want to be the global leader we are.”
McDonnell, who has endorsed former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, was echoed by Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, another Romney supporter, as well as Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, who have not endorsed any of the remaining candidates in the presidential race.
Santorum also drew a tacit rebuke from the president, who defended his education policies Monday in an address to the governor’s group. He said his higher education plan includes a vision for those students who do not attend traditional universities.
“I’m not only talking about four-year degrees,” Obama said. “I’m also talking about going to community college to get a degree for a manufacturing job where you have to walk through the door to handle a million-dollar piece of equipment.”
The dust-up comes at a critical juncture for Santorum, who is trying to maintain his momentum in the Republican presidential race in the face of increased scrutiny since his surprising victories this month in Minnesota, Colorado and Missouri.
Michigan is prime territory for Santorum, a social conservative who has tried to play up his working-class roots. Throughout his campaign, he has painted Obama and Romney as Washington elites who are trying to impose their values on those who spend weekdays working in factories and Sunday mornings in church.
It was an extension of that cultural attack when he criticized Obama on Saturday as a “snob” for wanting “everybody to go to college.” He went on to say that Obama wants students to attend liberal universities so that they can be inculcated in the same values that drive the president.
“Not all folks are gifted in the same way,” Santorum told a crowd of more than a thousand activists at the Americans for Prosperity forum in Troy, Mich. “Some people have incredible gifts with their hands. . . . President Obama once said he wants everybody in America to go to college. What a snob.”
His message has resonated with some conservative voters, whose support has pushed Santorum into a competitive position against Romney.
“I think the president is an elitist, and he thinks he knows what’s best for everyone,” Eric Maynard, 40, a pastor from Flushing, Mich., said at a Santorum event Monday. “In Michigan, we have a large blue-collar population, and what senator Santorum said is right. Not everybody can go to college.”
But to some critics, this latest attack goes beyond his typical anti-elite rhetoric and flies in the face of what has long been drilled into American families: that a college education is the most certain path to a brighter future for students as well as the country.
On Monday, Santorum and his advisers tried to stress that he was not questioning the merits of a college education. Adviser Hogan Gidley said Santorum is not criticizing any particular policy of Obama’s, but rather a “mentality” that people with college degrees are superior to those without them, such as those who join the military right after high school.
“Rick Santorum wants his kids to go to college, but if one of them comes to him with another choice, that’s not a dishonorable decision,” Gidley said.
At a campaign stop in Lansing, Santorum said he wanted to improve the prospects of those without such credentials, who experience higher unemployment rates than those with college degrees.
“We need to make sure that we have an economy that provides opportunities for everybody in America,” he said. “We are starting to see manufacturing come back a little bit. That’s a good thing. But we need it to explode.”
Just over 30 percent of the U.S. population 25 and older holds a bachelor’s degree or higher, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. But polls show that the vast majority of Americans believe college is desirable and attainable, and a critical component of the American Dream.
About 96 percent of parents believe that a college degree is important, according to a 2010 Gallup-Phi Delta Kappa poll, and about 92 percent of public school parents believed that college was in their children’s future.
In addition, a National Journal poll last year found that people ranked a college education fourth in importance behind raising a family and ensuring that their children had more opportunities than they had, owning a home, and being able to pursue a rewarding career.
Many experts say that it is not realistic to expect every student to attend a four-year university but that some education beyond high school is critical to earning a good living. They note that most well-paying manufacturing jobs these days require training beyond a high school degree.
“Whether you learn skills as a carpenter or a mechanic or a welder or an artist or a pianist or whatever it is, you’re going to need something other than a baseline [high school] diploma unless you’re okay with the earnings of a high school graduate,” said Frank Levy, an urban economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
In his remarks to the governors, Obama drew on his personal story — noting that his grandfather and mother attended college with government financial aid — to make the case that attaining an advanced degree has been part of the American success story for generations. “My mother was able to raise two kids by herself while still going to college,” he said.
As Obama has made his case for his economic agenda, he has pushed higher education as a crucial factor in preparing a more competitive workforce. But amid plans to reduce student loan debt and keep tuition affordable, the White House also has proposed initiatives to train “underemployed” workers and boost spending for community colleges.
The plan has earned Obama praise, including from some of the Republican governors who responded with skepticism Monday when asked about Santorum’s “snob” remark.
“We talked to the president today about some of the trades, even back to the concept we had in high school of shop or the vocational training,” said Bryant, the Mississippi governor. “He said today he would help from the bully pulpit, encouraging more folks who want to go into that type of training.”
Polling director Jon Cohen and polling analyst Peyton Craighill in Washington and staff writer Nia-Malika Henderson in Lansing, Mich., contributed to this report.
Literature Review
(April 2011) As the United States slowly emerges from the recession of 2007-2009, it is encountering a sobering predicament: not enough Americans are completing college. The Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce estimates that between 2008 and 2018, U.S. educational institutions will need to award 22 million new postsecondary degrees (associate's or better)—but will fall short of that number by at least 3 million. The country also will need at least 4.7 million new workers with certificates achieved through postsecondary training programs. For millions of Americans, the mismatch between current skill levels and future workforce needs will represent a lost opportunity.
Anthony P. Carnevale is director of the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce. Carnevale previously served as vice president for public leadership at the Educational Testing Service (ETS). He worked as a senior staff member in both houses of the U.S. Congress, and was appointed to commissions by Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and Bill Clinton. Carnevale co-authored the principal affidavit in Rodriguez v. San Antonio, a landmark U.S. Supreme Court action that resulted in education funding equalization across states.
In this interview, Carnevale discusses structural changes to the U.S. economy, the affordability of college for middle-class families, and the demographics of higher education disparities. He also explains why educational choices—where to go and what to study—affects employment opportunities.

Literature Review
Educational Level & Pay
Generally speaking, jobs that require high levels of education and skill pay higher wages than jobs that require few skills and little education. Statistics from the Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) validate this viewpoint by revealing that the unemployment rate among people who have a professional degree is significantly lower than that of people who have a high school diploma or less than a complete high school education. In addition, earnings increase significantly as a worker's degree of education

Literature Review
Sky-high student debt and countless stories about the plight of unemployed or underemployed college graduates have prompted a new wave of speculation as to whether college is really worth it. So perhaps some you might need this reminder: you know what’s even harder than not having a job? Not having a job or a college degree.

A new study from Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce finds that a college degree is indeed the best defense against unemployment. “It’s a tough job market for college graduates,” the report says, “but far worse for those without a college education.”

While the unemployment rate for recent four year college graduates is 6.8%, according to researchers the unemployment rate for recent high school graduates is nearly 24%. Additionally, nearly 200,000 jobs for workers with at least a Bachelor’s degree were added during the recession; 2 million jobs for college-educated workers have been added during the recovery. At the same time, nearly four out of every five jobs destroyed by the recession were held by workers with a high school diploma or less. References
(2012, March 23). United states department of labor. (2012). [ [ [0]]]. Retrieved from http://www.bls.gov/emp/ep_chart_001.htm
Carnevale, A. (2011). Higher Education and Employment in the Current U.S. Economy. Retrieved on October 16, 2012, from http://www.prb.org/Journalists/Webcasts/2011/us-education-workforce.aspx
Eulich, W. (2012). Higher Education May be Easing the Global Recession. Retrieved on October 29,2012, from http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-News/2012/0927/How-higher-education-may-be-easing-the-global-recession
Somashekhar, S. (27 F). Post politics . Retrieved on October 16, 2012, from http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/rick-santorum-takes-heat-for-snob-comment-against-president-obama/2012/02/27/gIQADiXteR_story.html
U.S. Department of Labor. (n.d.). Wages. Retrieved on November 5, 2012 from http://www.dol.gov/dol/topic/wages/educational.htm
Webley, K. (2012, August 16). One more time: Yes, college is worth it. Retrieved on November 6,2012 from http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/08/16/one-more-time-yes-college-is-worth-it/