Volume 15, Number 1 (Winter) 1980
Rumberger, Russell W. 1980. "The Economic Decline of College Graduates: Fact or Fallacy?" Journal of Human Resources 15(1):99-112.
Using Census data and information from the Department of Labor on the skill requirements of jobs, two models were tested in order to evaluate changes in the position of workers between 1969 and 1975. The first model was based on workers' mean weekly earnings. The second model was based on the discrepancy between the skill requirements of jobs and workers' educational skills. The results indicate that the economic position of male college graduates compared to high school graduates did not decline during this period in terms of relative earnings, but did decline in terms of the relative utilization of educational skills.
The author is Senior Research Associate at the Center for Human Resource Research, The Ohio State University. Copyright © 1979 by Russell W. Rumberger. This paper is based on the author's doctoral dissertation research conducted at Stanford University. Support for this project was provided by the Employment and Training Administration, U.S. Department of Labor, under Research and Development Grant No. 91-06-77-23. Since grantees conducting research and development projects under government sponsorship are encouraged to express their own judgment freely, this paper does not necessarily represent the official opinion or policy of the Department of Labor. The author wishes to acknowledge the advice and assistance of John Pencavel, Henry Levin, and Laura Best.
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