ERIC Number: ED467533
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2002-Jul
Pages: 14
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
The Big Payoff: Educational Attainment and Synthetic Estimates of Work-Life Earnings. Special Studies. Current Population Reports.
Day, Jennifer Cheeseman; Newburger, Eric C.
Changes in the relationship between educational attainment and work-life earnings over the past 25 years were examined by using data from the Current Population Survey (CPS) to construct synthetic work-life earnings. CPS data collected in March 1998, 1999, and 2000 were analyzed by age, sex, full- or part-time work experience, race, Hispanic origin, and educational attainment groupings. The synthetic estimates were created by using the various study groups' 1-year annual earnings and summing age-specific average earnings for people aged 25-64 years. The resultant totals represent what individuals with the same educational level would expect to earn on average in 1999 dollars in a hypothetical 40-year working life. The following were among the key findings: (1) earnings increase with educational level, with average annual earnings ranging from $18,900 for high school dropouts to $25,900 for high school graduates, $45,400 for college graduates, and $99,300 for workers with professional degrees; (2) earnings differences by educational attainment compound over an individual's lifetime; (3) the educational gap between women and men is narrowing; and (4) educational attainment and work-life earnings vary by sex, race, and Hispanic origin. Detailed information about the study assumptions and limitations and the computational procedure are included. (Contains 10 tables/figures.) (MN)
Descriptors: Asian Americans, Associate Degrees, Bachelors Degrees, Blacks, College Graduates, Comparative Analysis, Doctoral Degrees, Educational Attainment, Employed Women, Estimation (Mathematics), Graduate Study, High School Graduates, High Schools, Higher Education, Hispanic Americans, Males, Masters Degrees, Outcomes of Education, Part Time Employment, Predictive Measurement, Professional Education, Racial Differences, Salary Wage Differentials, Sex Differences, Sex Role, Tables (Data), Trend Analysis
For full text: http://www.census.gov/prod/2002pubs/p23-210.pdf.
Publication Type: Numerical/Quantitative Data; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: Bureau of the Census (DOC), Washington, DC. Economics and Statistics Administration.
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
IES Cited: ED506465