May 12, 2005 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Differences in women's earnings by educational level

Female college graduates earned about 76 percent more than women with only a high school diploma in 2004.

[Chart data—TXT]

This difference in earnings by education has increased sharply since 1979, when female college graduates earned 43 percent more than female high school graduates. 

Women workers without a high school diploma who worked full-time in 2004 had median usual weekly earnings of $334. Those with a high school diploma and no college earned $488; those with some college but no degree earned $553 and those with an associate degree earned $608.

Full-time women workers who held a bachelor's degree in 2004 had median usual weekly earnings of $792. Master's degree holders had earnings of $957, while the figure for professional degree holders was $1,055 and for doctoral degree holders was $1,188.

These data on earnings are from the Current Population Survey. Earnings data in this article are median usual weekly earnings of full-time wage and salary workers age 25 and over. For more information see "Women in the Labor Force: A Databook," BLS Report 985.