University Center on Education and the Workforce, adults with a bachelor’s degree earn an average of $2.8 million

during their careers, $1.2 million more than the median for workers with a high school diploma. College graduates

also have a significantly lower unemployment rate than those with lower educational attainments.

While a college degree holder’s wages have increased somewhat, the major reason for the increase in value of a

bachelor’s degree has been the plummeting value of a high school diploma. In the twenty-first century, the majority

of jobs require at least some post-secondary education. This includes manufacturing jobs that in the past would

have afforded workers a middle class income with only a high school diploma. Those jobs are increasingly scarce.

This phenomenon has also no doubt contributed to the increasing inequality of income that we observe in the U.S.

today. We will discuss that topic next, in Chapter 15.
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