New report may (or may not) link more education to higher pay
I’ve extolled the benefits of getting additional education to support your job search (and even support you in your existing job). On its face, the idea makes a lot of sense. Staying current with your industry and field is important; showing initiative is definitely a good thing; and the fact that companies often reimburse for some or all of the expense means that companies generally value your efforts to get more educated as well.
Then a report like “A Generation of Widening Inequality: The State of Working California, 1979 to 2006,” and adds lots of other variables into the mix. Job growth in different sectors of the economy … reporting time frame … et cetera. Here’s more about it, from a recent Los Angeles Times article:
Education can make a difference. The hourly wage of a typical worker with at least a master’s degree jumped 34.4% over the 27 years studied while the typical worker with less than a bachelor’s degree failed to keep pace with inflation. Those who didn’t graduate from high school saw wages sink 23.7%.
Viewed from a different time frame, the findings varied significantly.
Between 2000 and 2006, California workers who didn’t graduate from high school saw their hourly wages rise 8.5%, more than triple the increase of the typical worker with at least a bachelor’s degree and more than twice the increase of the typical worker with a master’s degree or more, the report said. That was because the minimum wage increased, and workers with relatively low levels of education tended to work in sectors that experienced strong growth in California during the first half of the decade, such as retail and the leisure and hospitality industries.
Conversely, young, highly educated workers saw their entry-level wages slip by 4.9% during that period, when college graduates were disproportionately represented in sectors associated with the high-tech industry, which had little or no job growth during that period.
All this being said, here’s what I think is the bottom line. Companies offer money for education because they believe you, in return, will deliver additional value to the company because of that education. It’s that simple. So I’m all for education.
What do you think?
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I think too many young people approach higher education as “just another four years” of the educational path that’s expected of them. So, after the four-five years comes to a close (which happens faster than they ever thought possible), they’re no closer to knowing what they want out of life, out of themselves, or out of their personal life purpose.
Parents and educators alike need to be more supportive in helping young minds to dive into their interests, consider life and career paths, and actively pursue (or at least piece together) a long-range plan around their own successful lifestyle and professional trajectory.
The job market is oversaturated with 20-somethings sporting a Bachelor’s degree and little or no vision, passion, or plan of what to do with it. That’s why recent grads throw themselves into the corporate, entry-level churn. They either don’t know what else to do with themselves, or they simply lack imagination and fail to realize the dress rehearsal is over — the rest of their lives (and success!) is up to them.
Hey — you asked!
Lani