A new report suggests a “misalignment” between higher education graduates and what the job market would need in just a few years.

Notably, Colorado’s schools are producing graduates in some fields at rates that are “far greater” than the job market’s projected need by 2031, according to a new report from the Common Sense Institute. 

More specifically, some occupations — the fields of production, life, physical, and social sciences, as well as transportation and material handling — would be “overrepresented” based on college degree attainment. Meanwhile, other professions, notably in the areas of business and financial operations, computer and mathematics, and healthcare, will be “underrepresented in college output.”

Such a misalignment means a significant economic opportunity loss, according to the report.

The study said that, by 2031, 73% of jobs in Colorado would require at least some postsecondary education, and, currently, 70.7% of adults, including people who received higher education elsewhere and then moved to Colorado, qualify for them. 

But only 66.5% of Colorado’s adult population born in Colorado actually meets that standard, which means the state is short some 79,000 people, the report said. 

The report said that, if Colorado’s current native-born workforce were matched to future demand, each of those 79,000 people would earn an extra $27,220 on average, totaling more than $2 billion more in wages.

That, in turn, would support another 25,000 jobs, add nearly $3 billion to the state’s GDP, and produce an additional $2 billion in income for all other workers.

Common Sense Institute said it developed an “Education-to-Workforce Alignment Tool” to diagnose the higher education system’s alignment with workforce needs and measure oversupply or undersupply of graduates compared to future demand.

There’s some good news: The class of 2022 graduates, for example, is 56% “better aligned with future workforce needs” than the 2021 supply.

The report said that, while smart public policies are necessary, ultimately it is up to individual students to make “sensible decisions about what areas of study, training, and jobs they pursue.”

“Public policies which advance career-connected learning are only effective if opportunity-seekers are also making informed decisions about job and career choices,” the report said.

CSI said its Education to Workforce Alignment Tool offers data, trends, and insights to help people understand the future labor market and where gaps might exist.

Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that Common Sense Institute created a website.