Jobs that typically require no formal educational credential now employ 37.4 million Americans, representing 24.1% of the U.S. workforce, according to an OysterLink analysis of the latest Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics data released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The trend is especially relevant to hospitality, where many jobs don't require a college degree. According to the National Restaurant Association, the restaurant and foodservice industry employs more than 15.7 million people and added 48,000 jobs in May 2026, the strongest monthly job gain in more than three years.

The findings show that occupations requiring no formal educational credential make up nearly one in four jobs nationwide, surpassing occupations that typically require a master's degree (2.3%), doctoral or professional degree (2.6%), associate's degree (2.1%) or some college but no degree (2.5%).

At the same time, occupations requiring a high school diploma or equivalent remain the largest educational category in the labor market, accounting for 35.2% of all jobs, while occupations requiring a bachelor's degree represent 25.1%.

The data also highlights significant wage differences between education categories. Occupations typically requiring a bachelor's degree report a mean annual wage of $111,220, nearly three times higher than occupations requiring no formal educational credential, which have a mean annual wage of $39,270.

Despite those differences, millions of workers continue to build careers in occupations that do not require formal educational credentials, particularly in industries such as hospitality, food service, retail, transportation and personal services.

"The data shows that there is still a substantial portion of the workforce succeeding in occupations that don't require formal educational credentials," said Milos Eric, Co-Founder and General Manager of OysterLink. "Hospitality has long been one of the industries where people can start and build rewarding careers without a traditional educational path."

The findings come as employers across multiple industries continue to face labor shortages and increasingly focus on skills-based hiring practices to attract workers.