{"id":14635,"date":"2014-02-28T07:00:05","date_gmt":"2014-02-28T12:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/%year%\/%monthnum%\/%day%\/for-millennials-a-bachelors-degree-continues-to-pay-off-but-a-masters-earns-even-more\/"},"modified":"2024-04-14T03:23:14","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T08:23:14","slug":"for-millennials-a-bachelors-degree-continues-to-pay-off-but-a-masters-earns-even-more","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2014\/02\/28\/for-millennials-a-bachelors-degree-continues-to-pay-off-but-a-masters-earns-even-more\/","title":{"rendered":"For Millennials, a bachelor\u2019s degree continues to pay off, but a master\u2019s earns even more"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Monthly<\/a><\/figure>\n\n

Millennials are the nation\u2019s most educated generation in history in terms of finishing college<\/a>.\u00a0 But despite the stereotype that today\u2019s recent college graduates are largely underemployed, the data show that this generation of college grads earns more than ones that came before it.<\/p>\n\n

In 2009 (the latest year available) the median monthly earnings of young adults with a bachelor\u2019s degree and no further education was $3,836, a 13% increase from 1984 ($3,399), according to the Census Bureau\u2019s Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP).<\/p>\n\n

The economic payoffs for obtaining a bachelor\u2019s degree vary widely by major field of study<\/a>.\u00a0 It is certainly possible that earnings have declined since the early 1980s for specific major fields of study.\u00a0 But given what young adults choose to study, the typical or median young adult with a bachelor\u2019s degree earns more than they used to.<\/p>\n\n

\"Household<\/a><\/figure>\n\n

The data also show that earnings of young workers with advanced degrees have grown even more than the earnings of those with bachelor\u2019s degrees.\u00a0 The median monthly earnings of young adults with master\u2019s degrees rose 23% from 1984 ($3,875) to 2009 ($4,772).\u00a0 Median earnings for those with professional and doctorate degrees is up even more –34%.<\/p>\n\n

Admittedly, the earnings figures above only reflect young adults who can find work.\u00a0 They also do not take into account important demographic changes that have occurred along educational lines.\u00a0 Relative to less-educated young adults, those with a bachelor\u2019s degree have become more likely to be married to someone in their socioeconomic class<\/a>. \u00a0\u00a0And, due to the delay in marriage in this group, there may be delays in having children, which means fewer dependents to support in the household .\u00a0 These are all arguments for looking at another standard measure of economic well-being: household income.<\/p>\n\n

\"College<\/a><\/figure>\n\n

The median adjusted monthly household income<\/a> of households headed by a young adult with a bachelor\u2019s\u00a0degree has increased by about $1,300 in inflation-adjusted dollars from 1984 ($5,960) to 2009 ($7,232).\u00a0 Household income gains have been even greater among households with advanced degrees (up $1,500 for those headed by a 25- to 34-year-old with a master\u2019s degree and up $3,400 for young adult heads with a professional or doctorate degree).<\/p>\n\n

In stark contrast, the household income of young adults with less than a bachelor\u2019s degree has declined in real terms since 1984.<\/p>\n\n

These findings do not show that the college education in and of itself caused<\/i> the gains. All the findings above simply pertain to the economic payoffs associated<\/i> with a bachelor\u2019s or advanced degree. But students and their families still need to know the typical payoffs associated with educational degrees in order to make informed decisions.<\/p>\n\n

One last finding worth pointing out is that college-educated Millennials do not appear to be\u00a0 completing advanced degrees in record number, contrary to the commonly held belief that a weak economy drives more college graduates into graduate school to delay entry into the workforce.\u00a0 In 2009, the most recent data available, 27% of college-educated young adults had gone on to also complete an advanced degree.\u00a0 SIPP data show that\u2019s not statistically different than college grads from 25 years earlier. In 1984, 26% of college-educated Boomers had also finished an advanced degree.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Millennials are the nation\u2019s most educated generation in history in terms of finishing college. But despite the stereotype that today\u2019s recent college graduates are largely underemployed, the data show that this generation of college grads earns more than ones that came before it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","sub_headline":null,"sub_title":"","_prc_public_revisions":[],"_ppp_expiration_hours":0,"_ppp_enabled":false,"ai_generated_summary":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"relatedPosts":[],"_prc_fork_parent":0,"_prc_fork_status":"","_prc_active_fork":0,"datacite_doi":"","datacite_doi_citation":"","_prc_seo_qr_attachment_id":0,"spoken_article_player_enabled":true,"footnotes":""},"categories":[374,238],"bylines":[984],"collection":[],"datasets":[],"_post_visibility":[],"formats":[467],"_fund_pool":[],"languages":[],"regions-countries":[515],"research-teams":[519],"class_list":["post-14635","short-read","type-short-read","status-publish","hentry","category-higher-education","category-income-wages","bylines-richard-fry","formats-short-read","regions-countries-united-states","research-teams-social-trends"],"label":"Short Read","post_parent":0,"word_count":518,"canonical_url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2014\/02\/28\/for-millennials-a-bachelors-degree-continues-to-pay-off-but-a-masters-earns-even-more\/","art_direction":{"A1":{"id":27069,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2014\/02\/FT_14.02.26_collegeEarningsHousehold.png","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2014\/02\/FT_14.02.26_collegeEarningsHousehold.png?w=310&h=317&crop=1","width":310,"height":317,"chartArt":false},"A2":{"id":27069,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2014\/02\/FT_14.02.26_collegeEarningsHousehold.png","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2014\/02\/FT_14.02.26_collegeEarningsHousehold.png?w=268&h=151&crop=1","width":268,"height":151,"chartArt":false},"A3":{"id":27069,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2014\/02\/FT_14.02.26_collegeEarningsHousehold.png","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2014\/02\/FT_14.02.26_collegeEarningsHousehold.png?w=194&h=110&crop=1","width":194,"height":110,"chartArt":false},"A4":{"id":27069,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2014\/02\/FT_14.02.26_collegeEarningsHousehold.png","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2014\/02\/FT_14.02.26_collegeEarningsHousehold.png?w=268&h=151&crop=1","width":268,"height":151,"chartArt":false},"XL":{"id":27069,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2014\/02\/FT_14.02.26_collegeEarningsHousehold.png","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2014\/02\/FT_14.02.26_collegeEarningsHousehold.png?w=310&h=405&crop=1","width":310,"height":405,"chartArt":false},"social":{"id":27069,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2014\/02\/FT_14.02.26_collegeEarningsHousehold.png","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2014\/02\/FT_14.02.26_collegeEarningsHousehold.png?w=310&h=548&crop=1","width":310,"height":548,"chartArt":false}},"_embeds":[],"table_of_contents":[],"datacite_doi":"","prc_seo_data":{"title":"For Millennials, a bachelor\u2019s degree continues to pay off, but a master\u2019s earns even more","description":"Millennials are the nation\u2019s most educated generation in history in terms of finishing college. 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