Wages not as affected by uni degrees as originally thought
Sunday February 7, 2010
Wages have often been one of the key dividers when it comes to the gap in employees with degrees and those without them. Getting a university degree is a costly and time consuming process that promises of higher paying and often better quality employment in the future years. However a recent report by the Wall Street Journal has speculated that the gap between the wages of those holding a degree and those who do not may not be as wide as once thought.
Originally the difference in overall lifetime wages earnings between those with degrees and those without was estimated at around $1.12 million (US$1 million). This figure was obtained based on numbers from the 2002 US Census Bureau report titled "The Big Payoff" which estimated the average wages earnings over a lifetime for an average high school and college graduate by multiplying the annual earnings by 40 years.
Yet this figure is now speculated to be much closer due to several factors of economics, society shifts and employment trends that have significantly changed over the last decade or so. The major factors listed included the global economic climate and the reduced level of wages being paid to middle level jobs along with a major shift in people's attitude when it comes to their careers.
It is estimated that the average person will change their career five times during their working life, which means many people are going back to school and paying the increasingly higher tuition fees. This leads onto one major changing factor, the size of people's student loans or HECS debt when they finish their education.
Of course, researchers have been quick to point out that it is more financially viable to hold a degree as it significantly expands the jobs opportunities in many industries; it is more a question of how much better it is financially.