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University of Wisconsin–Madison
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty

Tag: Earnings gap

Earnings Gap by Education Level

Pay gap between college grads and everyone else at a record, By Christopher S. Rugaber (AP), January 12, 2017, Star Tribune: “Americans with no more than a high school diploma have fallen so far behind college graduates in their economic lives that the earnings gap between college grads and everyone else has reached its widest point on record.  The growing disparity has become a source of frustration for millions of Americans worried that they — and their children — are losing economic ground…”

Gender Pay Gap – California

California equal pay bill may be toughest in nation, By Samantha Masunaga, September 2, 2015, Los Angeles Times: “California’s new Fair Pay Act, which awaits Gov. Jerry Brown’s signature, may be the nation’s most aggressive attempt yet to close the salary gap between men and women. Supporters said the legislation, passed unanimously by the California Senate on Monday, closes loopholes that prevented enforcement of existing anti-discrimination law.  The bill ensures that male and female employees who perform ‘substantially similar’ work receive equal pay, even if their job titles aren’t the same or if they work in different offices for the same employer…”

Inequality and Education

How Education Drives Inequality Among the 99%, By Brenda Cronin, May 23, 2014, Wall Street Journal: “Recent hand-wringing about income inequality has focused on the gap between the top 1% and everyone else. A new paper argues that the more telling inequities exist among the 99%, primarily driven by education. ‘The single-minded focus on the top 1% can be counterproductive given that the changes to the other 99% have been more economically significant,’ says David Autor, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology economist and author of the study. His paper, ‘Skills, Education and the Rise of Earnings Inequality Among the ‘Other 99 Percent’,’ comes as something of riposte to French economist Thomas Piketty, whose bestselling ‘Capital in the 21st Century’ has ignited sales and conversation around the world with its historical look at the fortunes of the top 1%. Mr. Autor estimates that since the early 1980s, the earnings gap between workers with a high school degree and those with a college education has become four times greater than the shift in income. . .”