The Homa Files

Interesting piece in Business Week …

Punch line: Sure, it costs more, and technology is threatening high-paying jobs. But the Great Recession shows postsecondary education is more valuable than ever

Supporting factoids:

The share of jobs in the U.S. economy requiring postsecondary education went up from 28 percent in 1973 to 59 percent in 2008… … and is projected to increase to 63 percent over the next decade.

* * * * *
Median earnings in 2008 …

• College graduate with a BA working full-time  … $55,700
• Associates Degree (typically awarded by community and technical colleges)  … $42,000.
• High school-only grads  … $33,800
• Without a high school diploma ….$24,300

* * * * *

Earnings Power

About 25 percent of those in the top 40% of wage earners have only a high school diploma.

About 20 percent of workers with a college degree are in the lowest 40% of wage earners.

* * * * *

Unemployment rates:

• 4.3% for college graduates and above who are 25 years and older.
• 9.5% for high school graduates
• 13.9% for those with less than a high school education

>> Latest Posts

Tags: College, employment, wages

This entry was posted on November 15, 2011 at 6:59 am and is filed under Education - Academics, Employment - Jobs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.