Has Education Paid Off for Black Workers?

John Schmitt and Janelle Jones

CEPR Reports and Issue Briefs from Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR)

Abstract: Over the past three decades, the “human capital” of the employed black workforce has increased enormously. In 1979, only one-in-ten (10.4 percent) black workers had a four-year college degree or more. By 2011, more than one in four (26.2 percent) had a college education or more. Over the same period, the share of black workers with less than a high school degree fell from almost one-third (31.6 percent) to only about one in 20 (5.3 percent). The black workforce has also grown considerably older. In 1979, the median employed black worker was 33 years old; today, the median is 39. Economists expect that increases in education and work experience will increase workers' productivity and translate into higher compensation. But, the share of black workers in a “good job” – one that pays at least $19 per hour (in inflation-adjusted 2011 dollars), has employer-provided health insurance, and an employer-sponsored retirement plan – has actually declined. This paper looks at this trend and policies that would have a large, positive impact on the quality of jobs for black workers.

Keywords: black workers; good jobs; retirement; pensions; health insurance; wages; labor; education; bad jobs; gender; pay equity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I2 I24 I25 J J1 J11 J15 J3 J31 J32 J38 J5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 25 pages
Date: 2013-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dem, nep-edu, nep-hrm, nep-lab and nep-lma
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:epo:papers:2013-11

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