For more than 70 million workers in the U.S. without a bachelor’s degree, the opportunity for upward economic mobility is often a monumental challenge. And at a time when many businesses are clamoring to acquire top talent, workers who are skilled through alternative routes, or STARS, are being outright ignored for higher-wage jobs.

This so-called “paper ceiling” disproportionately affects 66 percent of rural workers, 61 percent of veterans, 61 percent of blacks, and 55 percent of Hispanics. Over the past 40 years, the wage gap between STARS and workers with a bachelor’s degree has doubled.

In 2022, to help STARS break through the invisible barrier that comes at every turn, The Ad Council and Opportunity@Work launched the “Tear the Paper Ceiling” campaign. Supported by numerous national organizations, the integrated campaign calls on businesses and decision-makers to remove the obstacles blocking 50 percent of workers in the U.S. from landing high-paying jobs.

In this episode of Beyond Profit, a podcast of the ANA Center for Brand Purpose, host Ken Beaulieu discusses the campaign with Kenny Nguyen, CEO and cofounder of the agency ThreeSixtyEight, which designed and built TearthePaperCeiling.org. The award-winning website features the voices and stories of real STARS in various industries and provides resources and tools for employers to get started with skills-based hiring practices in their organization.