| Table 1 | |||||||||
| Education in Science, Engineering or Business and Median Earnings in 2018 | |||||||||
| Science, Engineering or Related and Business | Median Earnings | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| State | Male (1) | Female (2) | Male/Female (3) | Male/Female (4) | |||||
| Alabama | 73.0 | 54.8 | 33.2 | 47.4 | |||||
| Alaska | 69.3 | 57.7 | 20.1 | 42.5 | |||||
| Arizona | 73.6 | 55.4 | 32.9 | 29.9 | |||||
| Arkansas | 71.1 | 52.0 | 36.7 | 38.2 | |||||
| California | 75.2 | 60.3 | 24.7 | 33.3 | |||||
| Colorado | 74.8 | 58.7 | 27.4 | 39.4 | |||||
| Connecticut | 73.6 | 57.2 | 28.7 | 40.5 | |||||
| Delaware | 74.4 | 60.2 | 23.6 | 29.3 | |||||
| District of Columbia | 70.0 | 60.7 | 15.3 | 17.9 | |||||
| Florida | 75.0 | 58.0 | 29.3 | 26.2 | |||||
| Georgia | 75.0 | 57.9 | 29.5 | 35.1 | |||||
| Hawaii | 74.2 | 59.1 | 25.5 | 30.6 | |||||
| Idaho | 72.7 | 52.9 | 37.4 | 57.9 | |||||
| Illinois | 72.5 | 56.4 | 28.5 | 46.7 | |||||
| Indiana | 70.0 | 54.3 | 28.9 | 48.1 | |||||
| Iowa | 71.0 | 51.7 | 37.3 | 46.8 | |||||
| Kansas | 70.7 | 52.1 | 35.7 | 46.9 | |||||
| Kentucky | 69.1 | 53.0 | 30.4 | 38.2 | |||||
| Louisiana | 69.8 | 53.4 | 30.7 | 61.0 | |||||
| Maine | 66.9 | 51.8 | 29.2 | 34.8 | |||||
| Maryland | 76.0 | 60.7 | 25.2 | 30.3 | |||||
| Massachusetts | 74.3 | 59.9 | 24.0 | 39.0 | |||||
| Michigan | 74.0 | 57.0 | 29.8 | 50.2 | |||||
| Minnesota | 71.8 | 55.6 | 29.1 | 37.9 | |||||
| Mississippi | 69.4 | 51.2 | 35.5 | 44.5 | |||||
| Missouri | 70.6 | 54.2 | 30.3 | 37.5 | |||||
| Montana | 71.1 | 53.4 | 33.1 | 45.1 | |||||
| Nebraska | 69.5 | 53.7 | 29.4 | 43.7 | |||||
| Nevada | 73.0 | 57.7 | 26.5 | 28.0 | |||||
| New Hampshire | 74.2 | 57.5 | 29.0 | 44.7 | |||||
| New Jersey | 76.5 | 59.5 | 28.6 | 41.6 | |||||
| New Mexico | 71.6 | 52.8 | 35.6 | 38.0 | |||||
| New York | 69.5 | 55.3 | 25.7 | 30.8 | |||||
| North Carolina | 72.6 | 56.2 | 29.2 | 32.7 | |||||
| North Dakota | 70.9 | 53.8 | 31.8 | 52.0 | |||||
| Ohio | 72.6 | 55.0 | 32.0 | 45.1 | |||||
| Oklahoma | 70.1 | 53.2 | 31.8 | 44.2 | |||||
| Oregon | 71.1 | 55.6 | 27.9 | 37.7 | |||||
| Pennsylvania | 72.0 | 55.9 | 28.8 | 45.2 | |||||
| Puerto Rico | 75.5 | 62.6 | 20.6 | -2.3 | |||||
| Rhode Island | 70.8 | 55.4 | 27.8 | 36.8 | |||||
| South Carolina | 73.1 | 55.0 | 32.9 | 38.3 | |||||
| South Dakota | 69.0 | 52.4 | 31.7 | 39.1 | |||||
| Tennessee | 72.0 | 55.1 | 30.7 | 35.7 | |||||
| Texas | 76.7 | 58.0 | 32.2 | 43.3 | |||||
| Utah | 73.7 | 48.1 | 53.2 | 79.7 | |||||
| Vermont | 66.1 | 51.3 | 28.8 | 30.5 | |||||
| Virginia | 75.0 | 59.8 | 25.4 | 42.8 | |||||
| Washington | 74.7 | 58.1 | 28.6 | 49.3 | |||||
| West Virginia | 68.8 | 53.4 | 28.8 | 52.5 | |||||
| Wisconsin | 71.6 | 54.3 | 31.9 | 43.5 | |||||
| Wyoming | 69.5 | 50.3 | 38.2 | 67.1 | |||||
| United States | 73.4 | 56.9 | 29.0 | 42.0 | |||||
| Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2014-2018 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates and Economic no nonsense calculations. | |||||||||
| Notes: | |||||||||
| (1), (2) Percent Estimate of the Total population (Male or Female) 25 years and over with a Bachelor's degree or higher in Science, Engineering or Related Fields or in Business. | |||||||||
| (3) Percentage Ratio. | |||||||||
| (4) Percentage Ratio Male Median Earnings over Female Median Earnings. Median earnings correspond to the ones obtained in the past 12 months in 2018 inflation adjusted dollars for the Population 25 years and over with earnings. | |||||||||
Type of Education and Earnings 2018
February 8, 2020
Education and Earnings in the United States notes of February 6 an incongruity was observed regarding the usually expected behavior of positive correlation between education and earnings. It was noticed that in aggregate for the United States and in every state, there is a negative correlation between the education levels of males and females and earnings. In effect, despite the higher educational level exhibited by females their earnings are lower than those of males.
It was questioned whether this oddity may be explained by the type of educational field chosen. The American Community Survey data for 2018 released on December 19 of 2019 by the U.S. Census Bureau (www.census.gov) provides an insight to the problem. It contains information regarding the educational fields chosen by females and males in Science, Engineering, Science and Engineering Related Fields, Business, Education and Arts, Humanities and Others.
Table 1 exhibits (columns 1 and 2) the proportion of the population 25 years and over with Bachelor's degrees or higher in Science, Engineering or Business. Consequently, in the United States 43.1% of the women with Bachelor's degrees or higher chose fields different from the "higher paying" ones while for males the corresponding figure is 26.6%. Column (3) is the ratio of the proportion of males to females among their respective populations in those fields. The percentage of the male population 25 years and over with Bachelor's degrees or higher in the "preferred" fields is 29% larger than for the comparable female population
Earnings seem to reflect the situation of significant remuneration difference in accordance with the type of field selected. The American Community Survey estimates that the median earnings of the male population 25 years and over were 42% larger than those of females, confirming that the disparity in earnings between females and males could be related to the type of educational field chosen.
Additional research is needed regarding this subject. The difficulty persists concerning why there is such a relatively large difference in the pay-off to education in one type of field versus another and why the proportion of males and females varies accordingly.
| Table 2 | |||
| Education in Science, Engineering and Business and Earnings | |||
| Ratios (Male/Female) in 2018 | |||
| Number of States and the District of Columbia | |||
| Greater than: | Equal to or lower: | Education (1) | Earnings (2) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 90 | 100 | 0 | 0 |
| 80 | 90 | 0 | 0 |
| 70 | 80 | 0 | 1 |
| 60 | 70 | 0 | 2 |
| 50 | 60 | 1 | 4 |
| 40 | 50 | 0 | 19 |
| 30 | 40 | 21 | 20 |
| 20 | 30 | 28 | 4 |
| 10 | 20 | 1 | 1 |
| 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 |
| Source: U.S. Census Bureau and Economic no nonsense calculations. | |||
Table 2 exposes the number of states where the level of education in the "preferred" fields and earnings of males is larger by a given percentage of those for females. There is one state where the population of males 25 years and over in the fields of Science, Engineering and Business exceeds the one of the female population by more than 50% and one where is less than 20%.
Concerning, the earnings ratio there are no states where the earnings of the male population exceed those of the female population by more than 70% or less than 10%. So there is no state where the population of females 25 years and over has equal or greater earnings to the equivalent population of males.
The case of Puerto Rico, not included in Table 2, is unusual since the earnings of females are relatively larger than the ones of males notwithstanding that the proportion of males in the "preferred fields" is 20.6% bigger than the one for females. The conclusion after reviewing the 2018 American Community Survey data is that the quantity and the type of education both affect income and earnings. The question of quality of education is more complicated to address and would require additional research.