College-educated workers in America now make 80 percent more on average than workers without a college degree, a study shows.
That wage advantage is twice as much as it was 50 years ago, when workers with a high school diploma could make a competitive salary in manufacturing work.
The report, released last week by the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce, documents the shift to a high-skills economy in which more college-educated workers are in demand, but not enough are graduating. The underproduction of college talent is causing employers to bid up the salaries of those with a degree, widening the income gap, authors Anthony P. Carnevale and Stephen J. Rose found.
