“The U.S. Census Bureau reported that in fall 2012, more than 50 million U.S. adults, or one in four, had obtained a professional certification, license or educational certificate apart from a postsecondary degree awarded by colleges and universities. This is the Census Bureau’s first-ever report on this topic. Among the adults included in the report, 12 million had both a professional certification or license and an educational certificate; 34 million had only a professional certification or license; and 7 million had only an educational certificate. “Getting an academic degree is not the only way for people to develop skills that pay off in the labor market,” said Stephanie Ewert, a demographer with the Census Bureau’s Education and Social Stratification Branch and co-author of the report, Measuring Alternative Educational Credentials: 2012. “In this report, we’ve been able to measure for the first time how many people take another route to a productive career: holding an alternative educational credential independent of traditional college degrees. It turns out that millions of people have taken this path,” added Ewert. These alternative credentials include professional certifications, licenses and educational certificates. The fields of these professional certifications and licenses were wide-ranging and include business/finance management, nursing, education, cosmetology and culinary arts, among others. The report shows that, in general, these alternative credentials provide a path to higher earnings. Among full-time workers, the median monthly earnings for someone with a professional certification or license only was $4,167, compared with $3,433 for one with an educational certificate only; $3,920 for those with both types of credentials; and $3,110 for people without any alternative credential. “For people with at least a bachelor’s degree, earnings didn’t really differ between those with an alternative educational credential and those without,” said report co-author Robert Kominski, assistant chief for social characteristics at the Census Bureau. “But at lower levels of regular education, there is routinely an earnings premium for a professional certification or license, or an educational certificate.” Professional certification or license holders earned more than those without an alternative credential at each level of education below a bachelor’s. Among people with some college but no degree or less education, educational certificate holders earned more than people without an alternative credential.”