The Jakarta Post - Myth that education brings economic prosperity: "The argument that education matters for the economy is plausible because, at one level, it is obviously right. A modern society does need educated people: Not just engineers, chemists, and doctors, but millions of people who can write coherent letters, fill in complicated forms, explain insurance policies, and interpret statistical data from machines on factory floors. Some of these skills can be learned only in universities; others can (and should) be mastered in primary and secondary schools.

Employers naturally tend to hire the most educated workers on offer, and so as the number of graduates increase, so does the number of 'graduate' jobs. However, every study I know of -- whether British, Scandinavian, or American -- agrees that large numbers of these 'graduate' jobs require no more than they did when non-graduates performed them perfectly well. In this sense, many societies are already 'over-educated.'"