Department of Labor Logo United States Department of Labor
Dot gov

The .gov means it's official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you're on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Education pays

June 27, 2001

In 2000, college graduates age 25 and over earned nearly $400 more per week (at the median) than workers who stopped with a high school diploma.

Weekly earnings for persons 25 and over, 2000 annual averages
[Chart data—TXT]

The median usual weekly earnings of full-time wage and salary workers age 25 and over who are college graduates were $896 in 2000, compared with $506 for high school graduates with no college.

College graduates have experienced growth in real (inflation-adjusted) earnings since 1979. In contrast, the real earnings of workers who dropped out of high school have declined.

Data on weekly earnings by education are from the Current Population Survey. The figures for college graduates refer to all college graduates age 25 and over, including those with advanced degrees. Find out more in Working in the 21st Century, (Bureau of Labor Statistics, June 2001).

SUGGESTED CITATION

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Education pays at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2001/june/wk4/art03.htm (visited March 28, 2024).

OF INTEREST
spotlight
Recent editions of Spotlight on Statistics


triangle