College Grads Earn Nearly Three Times More Than High School Dropouts
By Neil Shah, WSJ
By some measures, nearly 50% of working college grads are in jobs that don’t require a college degree — but for most people that diploma does pay, eventually.
The U.S. Census Bureau on Tuesday said the typical American with a college degree earned $11,749 in the final three months of 2011 — the latest data available. That’s nearly three times more than the $4,026 earned by the typical American who didn’t graduate from high school. This education premium was even higher for those with a post-graduate degree: Their median earnings — the level at which 50% are above and 50% are below — was $15,733 in the fourth quarter of 2011.
The value of a college education has come into doubt thanks to rising tuition costs, ballooning student-loan debt, high unemployment and a sluggish economy that’s keeping millions of college-educated Americans in jobs that don’t require their education. As the Journal has reported, new research suggests the job opportunities of college-educated Americans may not improve much even when the economy rebounds.
Still, the hard numbers show Americans with higher levels of education tend to benefit long-term — and that the U.S. is struggling with a divide not just of income but of education. The unemployment rate for Americans 25 years and older with a Bachelor’s degree was 3.8% in February, far below the nation’s overall 7.7% rate. The jobless rate for people without a high-school diploma? 11.2%. High-school graduates without college faced a 7.9% rate.
(More here.)
By some measures, nearly 50% of working college grads are in jobs that don’t require a college degree — but for most people that diploma does pay, eventually.
The U.S. Census Bureau on Tuesday said the typical American with a college degree earned $11,749 in the final three months of 2011 — the latest data available. That’s nearly three times more than the $4,026 earned by the typical American who didn’t graduate from high school. This education premium was even higher for those with a post-graduate degree: Their median earnings — the level at which 50% are above and 50% are below — was $15,733 in the fourth quarter of 2011.
The value of a college education has come into doubt thanks to rising tuition costs, ballooning student-loan debt, high unemployment and a sluggish economy that’s keeping millions of college-educated Americans in jobs that don’t require their education. As the Journal has reported, new research suggests the job opportunities of college-educated Americans may not improve much even when the economy rebounds.
Still, the hard numbers show Americans with higher levels of education tend to benefit long-term — and that the U.S. is struggling with a divide not just of income but of education. The unemployment rate for Americans 25 years and older with a Bachelor’s degree was 3.8% in February, far below the nation’s overall 7.7% rate. The jobless rate for people without a high-school diploma? 11.2%. High-school graduates without college faced a 7.9% rate.
(More here.)
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