For New Job Market Entrants, a College Education Eliminates the Racial Earned Income Gap

Filed in Breaking News on November 30, 2012

New data from the U.S. Department of Education shows the value of higher education in closing the racial income gap. According to a new report on bachelor’s degree recipients who earned their degree during the 2007-08 academic year, the average earned income of Black bachelor’s degree recipients in 2009 was $39,700. This was only slightly less than the average earned income of $40,500 for Whites in 2009 who graduated from a four-year college in the 2007-08 academic year.

Therefore, a four-year college education tends to almost totally eliminate the racial earned income gap between Blacks and Whites, at least for those who have recently entered the job market.