Neat interactive from Flowing Data demonstrating the importance of education when it comes to income for young people (18-34):

Students can toggle between 1966 and 2016 to see how the median as well as the dispersion of wages changes over this fifty year period.

Questions:

• What is the income gap in 1966 for those that have a bachelor’s degree compared to those who don’t have one?
• Given that there are 100 data points for each of the two graphs, what percentage of those WITHOUT a bachelor’s degree earned over $80,000 in 1966 compared to those WITH a bachelor’s degree?
• Now select the 2016 button on the interactive. What is the income gap between those with a bachelor’s degree compared to those who don’t?
• What is the change in median income for each group over the last 50 years? Subtract the 2016 median from the 1966 median? Did either group see an increase in their REAL income growth? Who fared worse?
• Given that there are 100 data points for each of the two graphs, what percentage of those WITHOUT a bachelor’s degree earned over $80,000 in 2016 compared to those WITH a bachelor’s degree?
• What are two takeaways you have from this analysis?

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Interested in the linkages between education and wages? Check out this Question of the Day: How Much More Do College Grads Earn? 

About the Author

Tim Ranzetta

Tim's saving habits started at seven when a neighbor with a broken hip gave him a dog walking job. Her recovery, which took almost a year, resulted in Tim getting to know the bank tellers quite well (and accumulating a savings account balance of over $300!). His recent entrepreneurial adventures have included driving a shredding truck, analyzing executive compensation packages for Fortune 500 companies and helping families make better college financing decisions. After volunteering in 2010 to create and teach a personal finance program at Eastside College Prep in East Palo Alto, Tim saw firsthand the impact of an engaging and activity-based curriculum, which inspired him to start a new non-profit, Next Gen Personal Finance.