Growing Inequality Between Post Graduates And College Degree Holders: Wage Gap Between Post Graduate Degree And College Degree Growing

From Federal Reserve Bank Of San Francisco, Economic Letter, "Higher Education, Wages, and Polarization" by Rob Valletta:

Holding a four-year college degree gives a worker a distinct advantage in the US labor market. The wage gap between college-educated working adults and those with high school degrees is large and has grown steadily over the past 35 years. This gap appears to be bolstered by technological advances in the workplace, notably the ever-growing reliance on computers, because the skills needed to apply these technologies are often acquired through or associated with higher education. Since 2000, however, this trend has altered. Increasingly, the US labor market favors workers who hold a graduate degree, while the wage advantage for those who hold a four-year college degree has changed little.

Figure 1
Wage gaps compared with high school graduates

Source: Federal Reserve Bank Of San Francisco

Note: Author’s estimates from Current Population Survey data (outgoing rotation groups), ages 25–64. Top-code adjusted; observations with imputed earnings/hours dropped.