Submitted by CARPE DIEM

From columnist Star Parker: According to “Education and Economic Mobility,” by Brookings Institution scholar Ron Haskins, the inflation-adjusted median family income for adults ages 30-39 with a graduate degree was 80% higher in 2006 ($90,000) than in 1964 ($50,000). For those with a four-year college degree, it was almost 60% higher ($75,000 vs. $50,000). But incomes for those with a high school education or less have remained virtually unchanged over the same period (see chart above, click to enlarge).

Stated otherwise, the gap in real family income between adults with a graduate degree and those with only a high school diploma is four times as great today ($40,000 difference in median income) as 40 years ago ($10,000 difference in median income).

Comment: To the extent that there is rising income inequality, it appears that much of the inequality is due to the increasing gains to education over time. It’s not the “rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer” as much as it’s “the college-educated are getting richer in an Information Age Global Economy, and the high school-educated are staying the same.”

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