Labor Trends: College Graduates

Hello everyone. Last week, we didn't discuss that many things because of the test, but one thing that caught my attention in the labor trends unit was college graduates having better jobs. Having a college degree leads to higher earnings and more career opportunities. But is it true? This is what I will be talking about in this blog post.

On average, college graduates earn more money, experience less unemployment, and have a wider variety of career options than other workers do. A college degree also makes it easier to enter many of the fastest growing, highest paying occupations. In some occupations, having a degree is the only way to get the job. As a whole, college educated workers earn more money than workers who have less education. In 2003, workers who had a bachelor's degree had median weekly earnings of $900, compared to high school graduates who earned $554 a week, which is a difference of $346 per week, or a 62% increase in median earnings. For workers who had a master's, doctoral, or professional degree, median earnings were even higher.

The chart below show four different groups of people. The light brown line shows people who have received a high school diploma or less, with their annual earnings at around $25,000-$26,000. The gray line shows people who have completed some college without a degree, with their annual earnings at around $30,000-$32,000. The dark brown line shows people who have completed college with an associate degree, with their annual earnings at around $33,000-$36,000. The black line shows people who have completed college with a bachelor's or graduate degree, with their annual earnings at around $47,000-$60,000.

As you can see, there is a huge different in annual earnings between people who have a bachelor's or graduate degree compared to people with lower degrees or none at all. A college education can be costly of course, in terms of both time and money, but in the end the reward is well worth it.

I have this chart  to show the unemployment rates for college graduates compared to other groups. Young workers are those aged 22 to 27 without a bachelor’s degree or higher have an unemployment rate between 8%-16%. All workers are those aged 16 to 65, have an unemployment rate between 5%-10%. Recent college graduates are those aged 22 to 27 with a bachelor's degree or higher have an unemployment rate between 3%-7%. College graduates are those aged 22 to 65 with a bachelors degree or higher, have an unemployment rate of 3%-4%.

From looking at these two charts, it is clear that completing college with a bachelor's degree or higher not only secures a good paying job, but lowers the chance of unemployment for that person. Now, going back to what I said at the start about if it is true that having a college degree leads to higher earnings and more career opportunities, it is in fact true. In my opinion, it is well worth it to go to college and graduate some sort of degree. College can be very costly and time consuming, but the reward is worth it.