New Report from U.S. Census: Education Impacts Work-Life Earnings Five Times More Than Other Demographic Factors

Direct to New U.S. Census Report: Education and Synthetic Work-Life Earnings (18 Pages; PDF)

From the Report Summary:

 According to a new U.S. Census Bureau study, education levels had more effect on earnings over a 40-year span in the workforce than any other demographic factor, such as gender, race and Hispanic origin. For example, a worker with a professional degree is expected to make more than a worker with a eighth grade education or lower.

Some groups, such as non-Hispanic white males, Asian males and Asian females, benefit more from higher levels of education than other groups over a 40-year career for those with a professional degree. White males with a professional degree make more than double (about $2.4 million more) than that of Hispanic females with the same level of education.

(Note: Hispanics may be any race. All references in this news release to race groups such as black or white exclude Hispanic members of the race group in question; that is, all are “non-Hispanic.”)

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Other highlights:

• Overall, white males had higher earnings than any other group at every education level, with the exception of those with a master’s degree, which was topped by Asian males, and those with a professional degree, where Asian males were not significantly different from white males.
• In general, women in the most economically advantaged race groups usually earn less than men in the most disadvantaged race groups. For example, a white female with master’s degree is expected to earn $2.4 million over a 40-year work-life. In comparison, a Hispanic male with a master’s degree is expected to earn $2.8 million.
• For Asian, black and Hispanic groups whose highest education completed is high school, the difference between each group’s work-life earnings was not large compared with the differences between these groups when they had higher levels of education.
• Asian men and women with a bachelor’s degree or higher had greater returns on higher education than blacks or Hispanics of either gender. For example, an Asian female with a professional degree made $3.7 million in work-life earnings compared with $2.3 million for a Hispanic female with a professional degree.
• Naturalized citizens saw a small yearly increase in earnings over the native-born population ($1,210), but those who were not citizens made $2,446 less a year than the native-born.
• Language spoken at home had an effect on earnings: those who spoke a language at home other than English saw a decrease in annual earnings after considering all other factors. Even those who speak English “very well” saw a decrease of $989 in annual earnings compared with English-only speakers.
• Geography impacted earnings, showing higher earnings in the Pacific states and in New England and lowest earnings in East South Central states.

Direct to New U.S. Census Report: Education and Synthetic Work-Life Earnings (18 Pages; PDF)

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