The Education of American Workers

In general, as individuals attain higher educational levels, the risk of living in poverty falls markedly. Of all those sixteen years of age and older in the labor force during 2002, those with less than a high school diploma had a much higher poverty rate (14.6%) than high school graduates (6.1%), according to the BLS in A Profile of the Working Poor, 2002 (September 2004). The lowest poverty rates were reported by workers with an associate degree (2.8%) or college degree (1.6%). (See Table 4.9.) According to A Profile of the Working Poor, 2003 (March 2005), the poverty rate for people who did not finish high school declined slightly in 2003 to 14.1%, although poverty among high school graduates remained virtually unchanged (6.2%). Holders of associate degrees experienced increased poverty in 2003 (3.2%), while college graduates continued to see minimal poverty (1.7%).

Historically, poverty rates are higher for black workers than for white workers at almost all educational levels. This trend held true in 2002. The poverty rates of black men with less than one year of high school (18%) or with college degrees (2.4%) were higher than poverty rates of white men with less than one year of high school (16.3%) or a college degree (1.3%). Although TABLE 4.8 Distribution of money income and median income of persons 25 years old and over, by educational attainment and sex, 2002 [CONTINUED] "Table 387. Distribution of Income and Median Income of Persons 25 Years Old and Over, by Highest Level of Educational Attainment and Sex: 2002," in Digest of Education Statistics, 2004, U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2004, http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d04/tables/dt04_387.asp (accessed January 10, 2006)poverty rates were similar among white men and white women at all education levels in 2002, the rates for women were higher than for men. Among black men and women there were marked differences in poverty rates, especially at the lower educational levels. The poverty rate for black women workers with less than a high school diploma (29.4%) was higher than for black men (17.6%), and among high school graduates, the poverty rate of black women (17.2%) was twice that of black men (8%). When taken together, Hispanic men and women, at 10.4%, tended to suffer poverty at a higher rate than Asians (4.6%) or whites (4.5%), but at a slightly lower rate than black workers (10.5%). Hispanic women with less than a high school diploma were in poverty at a rate of 18.4%, compared with Hispanic men at 16.5%. High school graduates of Hispanic or Latino ethnicity had a poverty rate of 8.4% overall, higher than the rate for whites (5.1%) or Asians (4.6%). (See Table 4.9.)

In 2003, the total poverty rate was 5.3%, according to the BLS in A Profile of the Working Poor, 2003. However, the rate for those with less than a high school diploma was more than twice as high (14.1%), while the poverty rate among those with a college degree was only 1.7%. Among those with less than a high school diploma, the poverty rate for whites (12.7% overall; 12.1% for men and 13.9% for women) was markedly less than for blacks (22.4%; 16.9% for men and 28% for women), less than for Hispanics (17.2%; 16.3% for men and 19% for women), and only slightly less than for Asians (13%; 14.1% for men and 11.8% for women). A higher education continued to have beneficial effects on poverty status rates among all racial and ethnic groups: only 1.6% of college-educated whites, 1.9% of college-educated blacks, 3.6% of college-educated Hispanics, and 2.6% of college-educated Asians were in poverty in 2003.

FIGURE 4.1 Change in employment in the top 20 large-growth occupations that often require a master's, doctoral, or first professional degree, projected 2004–14 "Numeric Change in Employment in the Top 20 Large-Growth Occupations that Often Require a Master's, Doctoral, or First Professional Degree, Projected 2004–14," in "Occupational Employment," in Occupational Outlook Quarterly, Winter 2005–06, http://www.bls.gov/opub/ooq/2005/winter/art02.pdf (accessed February 7, 2006)

TABLE 4.9 Poverty status of workers by educational attainment, race, Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, and sex, 2002

TABLE 4.9 Poverty status of workers by educational attainment, race, Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, and sex, 2002 [CONTINUED] Adapted from "Table 3. People in the Labor Force for 27 Weeks or More: Poverty Status by Educational Attainment, Race, Hispanic or Latino Ethnicity, and Sex, 2002," in A Profile of the Working Poor, 2002, U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, September 2004, http://www.bls.gov/cps/cpswp2002.pdf (accessed January 9, 2006)