October 25, 1999 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)
Variation in earnings of college grads
There is much
variation in the weekly earnings of college graduates. In the last
quarter, 10 percent of college graduates earned less than half of the
median amount for those with a college degree. Another 10 percent earned
more than twice the median amount.
[Chart data—TXT]
The usual median weekly earnings of college graduates were $867 in the
three-month period from July to September 1999. College graduates in the
first decile in earnings—the lowest 10 percent—earned less than $428
per week. This was just under half of the median level.
Workers with a college degree who were in the tenth decile—the
highest 10 percent—earned $1,749 per week or more. This was just over
twice the median level of earnings of college graduates.
Data on weekly earnings are from the Current
Population Survey. Earnings figures
are for full-time wage and salary workers. The term "college
graduates" includes those with an advanced degree as well as those
with a bachelor’s degree only. Find more information on earnings in "Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers: Third Quarter 1999,"
news release USDL 99-301. Note that deciles divide the dataset into 10 equal-size groups and
quartiles divide the dataset into 4 equal-size groups.
Of interest
Spotlight on Statistics: National Hispanic Heritage Month
In this Spotlight, we take a look at the Hispanic labor force—including labor force participation, employment and unemployment, educational attainment, geographic location, country of birth, earnings, consumer expenditures, time use, workplace injuries, and employment projections.
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