4 ms·
The college wage premium is either reversing or pretty much gone by now. Plumbers and landscapers out-earn English and History majors now. It's only degrees t
by pclmulqdq 4y ago
The college wage premium is either reversing or pretty much gone by now. Plumbers and landscapers out-earn English and History majors now. It's only degrees that prepare you for specialized fields that still have an edge.
- paulpauper 4y agoIt's fallacious to compare the lowest paying college degrees to the highest paying of trades work as evidence of the premium reversing. Someone could just as easily compare an engineer, lawyer, or doctor who makes $250k/year to someone who works at McDonald's and makes $25k/year. A plumber with many years of experience on average makes $50-53k/year. This is respectable, but this is after many years. College grads by comparison on average make $55k out of college, whereas an apprentice makes $30k .
- pclmulqdq 4y agoYou do have to consider that the apprentice is making $30k out of high school. They will have 4-5 YoE before a college grad finishes college. If you compare them in that light, the difference reduces quite significantly.
- paulpauper 4y agosome of this is negated by higher unemployment rate for high school grads vs college grads. High school grads earn more initially but surpassed by college grads as time goes on due to wage stagnation.