Do Returns to Schooling Differ by Race and Ethnicity?

摘要

Inequality has increased in the United States over the past 25 years. In 1979, workers in the bottom 10th percentile of the wage distribution earned $6.88 per hour (in 2003 dollars) while those at the 90th percentile earned $30.19 per hour. By 1999 real wages at the 10th percentile had grown by roughly 5.4 percent to $7.25. At the same time real hourly wages at the 90th percentile grew 18.1 percent to $35.65. Because differences in human capital (education and experience) account for approximately one-third of the variation in wages and because the mean economic return to schooling is estimated at 10 percent, many researchers and policymakers have appealed to education and training policies to bolster the wages of the lowest-skilled workers (Pedro Carneiro and James J. Heckman, 2003; Alan Krueger, 2003).