Attending a little bit of college is worse than not going at all-By Akane Otani

Students celebrate at the commencement of the 2014 New York University graduation ceremony at Yankee Stadium on May 21, 2014 in the Bronx borough of New York City. Janet Yellen, Chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, received an honorary doctorate and was the 2014 commencement speaker. (Photo by Andrew Burton/Getty Images)

 

 

The recession took a bite out of earnings for all workers—but people who made an unsuccessful attempt at college were hurt the most. Those who’ve completed some college have seen their paychecks shrink the most compared with all groups of workers since 2007, a new report shows.
The report, released on Thursday by the Economic Policy Institute, analyzed data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and found that real hourly wages for workers who started, but didn’t finish, college declined 5.9 percent from 2007 to 2014. That’s worse than the dip for workers who didn’t graduate high school (5.2 percent decline), those who graduated high school (3.7 percent), and those who graduated college (2 percent). The only group whose wages have bounced back to 2007 levels are workers holding advanced degrees. Even so, their recovery has been modest at best: The EPI says advanced degree holders’ real hourly wages are now sitting merely at 2007 levels.

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With the exception of advanced degree holders, every group of workers -- ranging from those who haven't completed …

“Wage inequality has increased steadily, yet even those with a college diploma or advanced degree have experienced lackluster wage growth far behind the growth of productivity,” the report says.
Lackluster numbers aside, the institute didn’t warn people off of going to college. “The data do show that college graduates have fared slightly better than high school graduates since 2007,” according to the EPI report. That’s consistent with what economists have said time and time again. College graduates—especially those saddled with debt—may be pessimistic about the return on investment from their degrees, but the numbers have shown that completing college pays off. The average college graduate will earn $500,000 more over a lifetime than workers who only finished high school, my colleague Natalie Kitroeff reported last week.

A minor caveat: The wage premium applies only if you finish college. So those who may not be able to finish school might be better off not starting.

Culled from Bloomberg.com