EMBARGOED UNTIL: 12:01 A.M. EST, DECEMBER 10, 1998 (THURSDAY) Public Information Office CB98-221 301-457-3030/301-457-3670 (fax) 301-457-4067 (TDD) e-mail: pio@census.gov Jennifer Day 301-457-2464 Higher Education Means More Money, Census Bureau Says Underscoring the significant correlation between more education and higher salaries, the Commerce Department's Census Bureau today reported in a new study that, in 1997, adults age 18 and over with a bachelor's degree earned an average of $40,478 a year, while those with only a high school diploma earned $22,895. Advanced degree-holders made about $63,229 a year, while those without a high school diploma averaged $16,124. The report, Educational Attainment in the United States: March 1998 (Update), P20-513, also includes the following highlights: - About 83 percent of adults age 25 and over completed high school and 24 percent had a bachelor's degree or more. - The high school completion rate for young adults (age 25 to 29) was 88 percent, while 27 percent earned a college degree. - For those age 25 to 29, college completion rates for young women exceeded those for young men at 29 percent and 26 percent, respectively. - About 84 percent of Whites age 25 and over completed high school and 25 percent had a bachelor's degree or more. The equivalent rates for African Americans were 76 percent and 15 percent. - About 90 percent of the employed civilian labor force age 25 and over had a high school degree. - High school completion levels for those age 25 and over were highest in the Midwest (86 percent) and lowest in the South (80 percent). The report is based on data from the 1998 March Current Population Survey. As in all surveys, the estimates are subject to sampling variability and other sources of error.-X-The U.S. Census Bureau, pre-eminent collector and disseminator of timely, relevant and quality data about the people and the economy of the United States, conducts a population and housing census every 10 years, an economic census every five years and more than 100 demographic and economic surveys every year, all of them evolving from the first census in 1790.
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