August 29, 2001 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Low earnings of female high school dropouts

Earnings of female full-time workers aged 25 and over without a high school diploma were considerably below those of women with college degrees in 2000.

Median usual weekly earnings of female full-time workers age 25 and over, by educational attainment, 2000
[Chart data—TXT]

Median usual weekly earnings of women without a high school diploma were $303 per week in 2000, compared with $760 for those with college degrees.

Female high school graduates who had not attended college earned $421 per week, over a third more than those who had not obtained a high school diploma. Women with some college or an associate degree earned $504 per week, about two-thirds more than those who did not graduate from high school.

These data on earnings are produced by the Current Population Survey. More information can be found in "Highlights of Women’s Earnings in 2000," BLS Report 952 (PDF 193K).

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