But this reflected the reduction in the percentage of people working full-time. Women earn less than men do, but otherwise the pattern holds. For women age 45-54, college graduates earned 68 percent more than high school graduates. Not everyone agrees that education causes earnings to increase. They observe that simple correlation between education and earnings does not prove that education causes higher earnings.
People attending college tend to be more motivated and talented.
They learned more in high school. Since these factors also tend to push up earnings, raw comparisons by level of education may overstate the financial effect of education alone. The 65 percent earnings premium enjoyed by 45-54 year old college educated males may well be a product of ability as well as education. Further, some theorists have questioned the financial effect of education by suggesting that college degrees are merely a device employers use to sort out potential employees. In their view, employers place no fundamental value on education.