> Non-college-educated men have seen their pay shrink by more than 30% since 1980 compared to the average earnings of all other prime-age workers. Their weekly

> Non-college-educated men have seen their pay shrink by more than 30% since 1980 compared to the average earnings of all other prime-age workers. Their weekly earnings have declined 17%, while those of college-educated men rose by 20%, adjusting for inflation. That earnings loss has caused a decline in their social status, prompting them to walk away from work entirely, Pinghui Wu, the author of the study, wrote. I wonder how much of this we could explain simply by the fact that the percentage of men who have graduated college has doubled since 1980. Compared to 1980, the non-college-educated group represents a smaller proportion of men. If you somehow took that same, smaller proportion of 1980s men by doing something like removing 1980s jobs that would now require a degree, then perhaps the salary comparison to the average salary would look similar to today.