The Current Population Survey (CPS) is used for many studies examining trends in the returns to education. The CPS changed its education item in 1992. This paper develops adjustment factors for earnings at different education levels to make pre- and post- 1992 earnings comparable. To accomplish this, contradictory results from alternative data sources are analyzed and, to the extent possible, reconciled. The adjustments reduce the estimated growth in the College/High School earnings ratio between 1989 and 1993 by between 29 and 48 Percent for men and between 44 and 73 percent for women.

Harley Frazis and Jay Stewart are senior researchers at the Bureau of Labor Statistics. They acknowledge suggestions and comments from David Autor, David Jaeger, Mary Joyce, Marilyn Manser, and an anonymous referee, and research assistance from Mariya Charny and Héctor Rodríguez. The opinions expressed here are those of the authors and do not reflect the views of the Bureau of Labor Statistics or those of its staff. Any remaining errors are the responsibility of the authors. The data used in this article can be obtained beginning January 2000 through December 2003 from Jay Stewart, Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2 Massachusetts Avenue, NE, Suite 4945, Washington, DC 20212-0001.