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That's credential inflation. Saying we require any degree to do this job means the degree is irrelevant. It's like Occupational licensing. Putting up barriers between people with low paying jobs to pursuing higher paying jobs which cannot be overcome without sinking a lot of cost. This country in the past did fine without requiring that license, as do many competing countries today.

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I don't think it's purely inflation. A degree shows you can show up to a place for 3-4 years and do something. That's all you need for a lot of jobs so preferring those who have a piece of paper saying they can do that makes some sense.

I live in Europe where university is free or quite cheap so asking young people to do it for a couple years isn't the worst.. it's quite fun. And I say this as someone who dropped out to work in software engineering instead.

I suppose there's a difference when many educational programs in the US leave students with 6 figure debts that saddle them with the equivalent of a mortgage before they ever enter the labor force.

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