Journal Article

Falling College Wage Premiums by Race and Ethnicity


Abstract: Workers with a college degree typically earn substantially more than workers with less education. This so-called college wage premium increased for several decades, but it has been flat to down in recent years and declined notably since the pandemic. Analysis indicates that this reflects an acceleration of wage gains for high school graduates rather than a slowdown for college graduates. This pattern is most evident for workers in racial and ethnic groups other than White, possibly reflecting an unusually tight labor market that may have altered their college attendance decisions.

Keywords: race; ethnicity; diversity; wages; college degrees; college graduates;

Access Documents

File(s): File format is application/pdf https://www.frbsf.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/el2023-22.pdf
Description: Full text - article PDF

Authors

Bibliographic Information

Provider: Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco

Part of Series: FRBSF Economic Letter

Publication Date: 2023-08-28

Volume: 2023

Issue: 22

Pages: 6

Related Works