Order 2024-07 – Eliminating Unnecessary Degree Requirements from Port Jobs Page 1 of 2
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ORDER NO. 2024-07 5
AN ORDER OF THE PORT OF SEATTLE COMMISSION 6
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…shredding the paper ceiling at the Port of Seattle by 8
eliminating unnecessary post-secondary degree 9
requirements for Port jobs. 10
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PROPOSED 12
MAY 14, 2024 13
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TEXT OF THE ORDER 16
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The Port Commission hereby orders the Executive Director, or a delegate, to remove all 18
requirements for a post-secondary (college or university) degree for all jobs at the Port unless that 19
degree is required by law for an employee to perform the essential functions of that position. 20
Should a hiring manager have a non-legal but significant rationale for narrowing their potential 21
hiring pool for a given position by requiring a certain degree, they may petition the Executive 22
Director and/or the Senior Director of Human Resources for the ability to do so. 23
The actions above shall be incorporated into the Port’s HR-8 Talent Acquisition Policy. 24
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STATEMENT IN SUPPORT OF THE ORDER 26
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It is the intent of the Commission to reduce the number of positions in Port employment that 28
unnecessarily require a post-secondary degree in order to qualify for the job. The Commission 29
recognizes that certain positions have a need for technical, scientific, or professional training that 30
make a specialized course of study necessary, and for other positions, the requirement of a two-31
year, four-year, or other post-secondary degree is added to job requirements to serve as an indicator 32
of general skills or knowledge, such as skills in writing, analysis, or presentations, which are 33
readily acquired in today's society through other means. 34
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This Order aligns the Port with the state of Washington’s Substitute House Bill 2216 regarding 36
degree requirements for state government employees. As of 2024, at least 16 states across the US 37
have eliminated degree requirements for most state positions.
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“States Consider Elimination of Degree Requirements.” National Conference of State Legislatures 4 Jan. 2024,
www.ncsl.org/education/states-consider-elimination-of-degree-
requirements#:~:text=Governors%20in%20at%20least%2010,requirements%20for%20most%20state%20positions.
Agenda Item: 10b_order
Meeting Date: May 14, 2024
Order 2024-07 – Eliminating Unnecessary Degree Requirements from Port Jobs Page 2 of 2
Harvard Business School has found that “degree inflation—the rising demand for a four-year 40
college degree for jobs that previously did not require one—is a substantive and widespread 41
phenomenon that is making the U.S. labor market more inefficient…this phenomenon hampers 42
companies from finding the talent they need to grow and prosper and hinders Americans from 43
accessing jobs that provide the basis for a decent standard of living.”
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By taking this action, the Commission also intends to lower unnecessary barriers to Port 46
employment for communities of color. In 2021, Pew Research Center found that, while 42 percent 47
of White Americans 25 and older had earned a four-year degree, 28 percent of Black and 21 percent 48
of Latino Americans had done the same.
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Fuller, J., Raman, M., et al. (October 2017). Dismissed By Degrees. Published by Accenture, Grads of Life, Harvard
Business School.
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Schaeffer, Katherine. “10 Facts About Today’s College Graduates.” Pew Research Center, 12 April, 2022
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2022/04/12/10-facts-about-todays-college-graduates/
