Employers today can afford to be particular and dropouts are learning this lesson first hand.

With the job market tightening, the unemployment rate for people lacking a high school diploma reached 15.6 percent in August. It was 9.7 percent for high school graduates without any college.

This is one of the reasons adult-education centers are being flooded with students seeking General Education Diplomas (GED). In 2008, the number of high school dropouts seeking a GED swelled to 777,000, up 6.6 percent nationwide. In some areas, the increase in GED seekers was 20 percent higher than the year before.

Reasons for seeking a GED included job search, general education and social reasons. About 7 percent wanted to qualify to join the military.

The GED is accepted by most state colleges, universities and technical schools in lieu of a high-school diploma and it is in this area that experts say it is most valuable. GED students with some post-secondary education can improve their earning power significantly. However, two recent studies suggest those who hold a GED still do not significantly improve their earning power compared to high school dropouts.

Thanks to state and federal programs, getting a GED can be very inexpensive or even free.