College Graduates Starting Wages Drop In Last Decade: EPI [GRAPH]

Despite remaining the safest road to financial prosperity, a college degree isn't earning the recently graduated quite as much these days.

The average wage for young college graduates has dropped by nearly a dollar per hour over the last decade, once accounting for inflation, according to the Economic Policy Institute. Yet despite that entry-level wage stagnation, data still finds that a college degree remains a worthy investment.

While the recession has taken its toll on graduating class, hiring for 2011 graduates is up 10 percent from last year, and unemployment rates among those with a degree remains less than half the national average. In fact, it's those with only a high school diploma that sit above the national average.

That employment gap, between college and high school graduates, has been steadily widening since 2007, the Wall Street Journal reports.

It's not just going to college that betters a student's probability of obtaining a higher wage; it's what you study once there. The starting salary for a petroleum engineer, for example, is around $97,900, The Huffington Post reports. Compare that to social work, where a just-graduated job seeker can expect a starting salary of $33,000.

Here is a graph from the Economic Policy Institute showing the drop off in average starting wages for college graduates over the last decade:

Comments

[LiveMind]

10:49 PM on 09/03/2011

And according to that graph, the wage gap between men and women is increasing again too.

Why am I not surprised?

[Mondayboy]

10:37 AM on 09/03/2011

not everybody should go to college

[LiveMind]

10:50 PM on 09/03/2011

There are no jobs that a person can raise a family on anymore for HS graduates. If not everyone should go to college, then what alternatives do you plan to provide that will allow a working class to live decently and have a human and not a slave life?

[ruburnt]

12:49 AM on 09/03/2011

Starting wages down...yet the cost of a college education has skyrocketed....

[LiveMind]

10:50 PM on 09/03/2011

Tripled in the same time period.

[ricchh]

09:03 AM on 09/02/2011

This is misleading information. You have to look at the population. The number of high school seniors peaked in the US in 2009-2010 (second boom), and is now starting to go down.The number of graduates will actually be coming down the next few years, and significantly down in five years, as there have been much less children born recently.

[LiveMind]

10:51 PM on 09/03/2011

And what does that have to do with starting salaries?

[ricchh]

08:55 AM on 09/04/2011

More people, more graduates, more competion, lower salaries.

[corwin]

12:23 AM on 09/02/2011

A just graduated social work student can expect to be living at hiome ,unemployed.

[LiveMind]

10:51 PM on 09/03/2011

So are a lot of newly graduated lawyers.

[Vic22]

09:05 PM on 09/01/2011

You would think after all this data keeps piling up about wages for the middle and lower class stagnating, and corporations getting more profitable. People would start realizing that trickle down doesn't work.

In a functional two party system, you need a party in power and an opposition party to temper their policies. Unfortunately, in our system, one side's ideologies have been factually shown to only improve the people who had money to begin with. Instead of evolving, they have doubled down, and have ceased to be oppositional. Now all they do is obstruct

[corwin]

12:24 AM on 09/02/2011

Nope. You would think they realize they need something useful to support themselves.Difidently, I point out,the Smart people have realized thiis.Sorry.
ANd,regular sized fries ,please

[LiveMind]

10:53 PM on 09/03/2011

Wow- yet more unintelligible gibberish. Perhaps repeating 5th grade would be a good idea, especially before using the phrase "smart people" in a way that implies you are among them?

[alterego55]

07:47 PM on 09/02/2011

Don't look up. The only thing trickling down is yellow, stings the eyes and smells like asparagus.

[uniquindividual]

06:09 PM on 09/01/2011

Median income is down since trade was liberalised with totalitarina China. manufacturing employment is down more than 30% too.

In the long run, income for a nation is a function of its productivity. We lower our productivity when we outsource our machines of production and replace them with a grill to cook burgers.

Race to the bottom

http://wihresourcegroup.wordpress.com/2009/10/28/amazing-pictures-pollution-in-china-by-china-hush-wih-resource-group/

[almostlyniceguy]

07:19 PM on 09/01/2011

Your definition of productivity is wrong. Productivity is variable cost per unit produced. It is not relevant where something is produced; if you produce overseas, then transportation is one of your variable costs.

Americans can have high wages and be competitive by judicious use of mechanization, and more importantly, innovation and creativity in manufcaturing methods.

[cosmiCataclysm]

08:42 PM on 09/01/2011

The other guy is 'right' (sic) correct.

[JustinP213]

08:12 AM on 09/02/2011

Are you high?? Mechanization has lead to the loss of THOUSANDS of U.S. manufacturing jobs.

[LiveMind]

10:54 PM on 09/03/2011

We;ve increased our productivity-- we've just lowered what people get paid for it. Work harder & get more accomplished for less pay & fewer benefits each year.

[uniquindividual]

10:25 PM on 09/10/2011

It's a distribution issue to a degree for sure.

But the reason behind the distribution problem is associated with americans competing for wages with people who live in totalitarian societies that do not recognise workers rights to free speech, free press, unionization, free association, Etc....

Note how the trade deficit ballons in 2000 (when trade was liberalized with one billion workers living in a totalitarian society).

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_pMscxxELHEg/SXu-IBM6k3I/AAAAAAAAEXE/Q2KYO8ce_9Q/s1600-h/TradeDeficitGDP.jpg

And the acceleration of the trend of income inequality

http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=3220

[Frank Yi]

06:02 PM on 09/01/2011

I started at 19.50 2 years ago. and because of the company wage freeze, it has been stuck there at 19.50. sucks im at 1979 starting wages :(

[MasterKat]

06:26 PM on 09/01/2011

Cheer up, at least you're not a woman!

[Shain Eighmey]

06:51 PM on 09/01/2011

Don't worry. Due to inflation you're actually making less than you were when you started!

It's rough, I'm right there with you.

[dmk68]

05:51 PM on 09/01/2011

The anger that is directed at corporations should also be directed at colleges and universities. For far too long, their tuition has risen at an outrageous rate, not to menion outpacing inflation. In my opinion, many students get a horrible return on their investment and come away from college unprepared for the real world. But then again, if your customers had unlimited access to tuition money, you'd probably keep raising tuition too.

[Grogger]

05:55 PM on 09/01/2011

My anger IS directed at colleges and universities, they are a fraud and a parasite. It's not about educating students friends, it's about controlling access through credentialing, regardless of it's true value. Another sham on par with religion.

[JustinP213]

08:13 AM on 09/02/2011

Religion is a much bigger sham, grogger.

[LiveMind]

11:22 PM on 09/03/2011

Nonsense. That's the case only if you're talking about the for-profits. Most legit universities are staffed with people who really give a damn and then some about education.

[Corey Leamon]

06:38 PM on 09/01/2011

Yes, tuition is high, but you get what you put in at college. Too many forget that you don't get an automatic "product" just because you pay tuition. College changed my path in life entirely - it didn't "fail" me because I challenged myself and the university returned the favor. I'm tired of students complaining because they're too damned lazy to use universities to their advantage while earning a degree.

[Shain Eighmey]

06:56 PM on 09/01/2011

You're right, but at the same time I've noticed a real decline in services at my old University just while I was there. Maybe it's because I picked the wrong one, but the University loved to pretend that it never had enough money to do anything of substance, but managed to scrape together enough for record breaking raises and a fleet of segways.

[Taymullah]

12:30 AM on 09/02/2011

You get what you put into it?

I put countless hours of study and my time into ensuring I did everything correct. I never missed an assignment and I graduated with a 3,96. What did I get out of it?

Absolutely NOTHING.

[TurnSeiki]

05:43 PM on 09/01/2011

Degrees are a dime a dozen. What's needed is experience. And, fortunately for my generation, these kids today work at a job for 2 to 3 years and expect to be making $200K. I've got a good 30 years left to keep these kids at bay. And, in about 10 years I get a promotion for the simple fact that I'm alive and have experience. That's when the bulk of the baby boomers call it quits (and when social security implodes).

[jgeurian21]

05:48 PM on 09/01/2011

Experience is not a good indicator of success. Take for example George Bush Jr. One of the worst presidents in our history yet had vast amounts of legislative experience. And then some of the most inexperienced often are the best. Take Lincoln for example. He had 1 term as a state legislator and a failed grocery store when he became president. Experience has nothing to do with job performance. A far better indicator would be work ethic. I would rather have a hard working person that doesn't know anything than a lazy person with experience. I can teach someone how to do a job; I can't teach them to work hard.

[maid3marian]

09:23 PM on 09/01/2011

The presidency is a role that requires a certain temperament, in my view. The fact that our country plays on a world stage means that our leader should be able to command respect in any international sphere necessary for our stature to remain elevated. That person must also be a representative for the people's frame of reference, the success of which is difficult to achieve given the diversity and size of the US. The president needs to be a good judge of character so those appointed into roles for the administration handle their duties as expected, and who are a trustworthy group of advisers. Also the president must be a good delegator and motivator for those who will carry out the vision based on the platform he/she was elected on. Congress is supposed to do the work of legislating the vision into reality, and figuring out how it is paid for. The president 'presides' - we expect that he/she behave as the one leading, in demeanor, poise, focus, and as the one who has the responsibility to think clearly and logically, weigh the hardest decisions, react perfectly in a disaster, command the military, and to not be subject to faults and foibles. Whatever the experience, wherever obtained, isn't as important as the character and sense of purpose, determination, and willingness to take on such a big responsibility as leader of the free world. All that and be human, too.

[MasterKat]

06:29 PM on 09/01/2011

Yet you still made more when you entered the work force than today's generation. And the baby boomers mostly raised this generation, giving them their unrealistic expectations. My mom got her degree for about $10,000 total. Mine cost ten times that. Apples and oranges. But, hey, your generation will bequeath to my generation a world so screwed up we should have work to do for a lifetime. Thanks!

[jgeurian21]

05:43 PM on 09/01/2011

Actually these numbers look pretty good. When I graduated college I worked as a car wash attendant wiping off cars for $8 an hour. After that a cashier at Lowes for $8. Then at the FedEx hub in KC as a package unloader for $10 an hour. I would have wet myself if I got a job paying $20 an hour right out of college. Of course now at 29 I make 6 figures which my degree was instrumental in getting. Some times things take time and you have to work at some pretty bad places, but good things come to those that work hard.

[Monica Haddican]

10:03 PM on 09/01/2011

What field do you work in? Engineering? Computer science? Most 29 year olds are definitely not making 6 figures..

[jgeurian21]

09:17 AM on 09/02/2011

The drug and alcohol testing industry, specifically Federally regulated testing for the oil and gas industry. I got into the business by taking a job as a urine collector. 4 year later I am the manager of the Federal audit department.

[LiveMind]

10:59 PM on 09/03/2011

Most college grads of any age are not making 6 figures, period.

[mjk0259]

05:37 PM on 09/01/2011

In 1979, that starting salary likely included free medical including free medical during retirement, a pension and pretty good job security. Now, pay $5/hour for medical, save what you can for retirement yourself with maybe

[frank day]

07:21 PM on 09/01/2011

Great comment.

[Roommate]

05:23 PM on 09/01/2011

The gov is taking or stealing work money which is causing wages to shrink

[jgeurian21]

05:44 PM on 09/01/2011

Actually it depends on your tax bracket. After Obama I have actually had less taxes than under Bush.

[Squirdlock]

05:22 PM on 09/01/2011

Wages have been circling the drain ever since Old Dutch took the helm in 1981...but, thanks to the Republicans, executive pay has soared!

[So silly]

05:22 PM on 09/01/2011

Thankfully the cost of college had dropped as well. Oops.