Could the US job market stop favoring college-educated workers? A surge in manufacturing jobs in the US could translate into a more balanced job prospects for college-educated and less-educated workers, Conor Sen writes for Bloomberg. “The unemployment rate for people over age 25 with less than a high school degree is 5.1 percent, the lowest on record going back to 1994. Perhaps more impressive, as economists point to the employment-population ratio still being below its highs of prior cycle peaks to argue there’s still more labor market slack, that is not the case for those with less than a high school degree.”

The wage gap between high- and low-income earners could also be getting narrower as the fastest rate of income growth is now concentrated among the low-income earners, suggesting that wage inequality is not something inevitable, Sen says. This comes as the economic environment in general is in their favor, with many key manufacturing industries bouncing back from temporary dips and minimum wage rising around the country. Put together, all of these factors mean “things are actually moving in the right direction” for America’s least-educated labor force.