July 26, 2011--Stay In School

It pays to stay in school. In fact, it literally pays to stay in school for as long as possible as there is a direct correlation between educational attainment, unemployment, and annual income.

Here are the facts from as recently as June of this year.

As you can see, though the national unemployment rate is 9.2%, it isn't anything near that for those with graduate or professional degrees; and it is much higher than that for adults with only a high school diploma, and even worse for folks who dropped out.

Schooling . . . . Unemployment Rates . . . . . Annual Earnings

Doctorate . . . . . . . . . . 2.0% . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$80,600

Professional Degree . . .1.8% . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83,700

Master's . . . . . . . . . . . .3.4% . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66,100

Bachelor's . . . . . . . . . . 4.9% . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54,000

Associate . . . . . . . . . . . 6.3% . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39,900

Some College . . . . . . . .7.7% . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37,000

HS Diploma . . . . . . . . . 9.6% . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32,600

HS Dropout . . . . . . . . . 14.2% . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23,100

What better evidence is there that we are facing a complex, interconnected crisis? The solution is not just a matter of employers hiring people; it is also that we have a more and more poorly educated workforce who are becoming structurally unemployable. We need to do the budget cutting necessary to bring our deficit under control--as well as begin to quell the political rage that has overtaken much of the population--but we also need to figure out how to make our schools work for everyone.