Since roughly half the jobs lost when the recession first hit have been regained, nearly all of those positions require some type of post-secondary education, according to a recent study by the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce.

For respondents with at least bachelor's degrees, the wage advantage over respondents with only high school diplomas has remained high and stable at 97 percent. In fact, the wage premium for bachelor's degrees or higher as opposed to high school degrees jumped from 44 percent in 1981 to 100 percent in 2005 while only falling to 97 percent during the onset of the recession.

"It is a tough job market for college graduates but far worse for those without a college education," says Anthony P. Carnevale, the Georgetown Center's director and co-author of the report. "At a time when more and more people are debating the value of postsecondary education, this data shows that your chances of being unemployed increase dramatically without a college degree."