Introduction
The world, in general, has embarked on making education available and affordable. In many world economies, government expenditure on education is among the huge budget portions. Some of the governments have opted to offer basic education for free to their citizens. The taxpayers are highly burdened for this course but the question is; is it worth going to school? Does the income of an individual increase with an increased education level?
Many people go to school with different agendas. It starts with the parent who dictates to the child that he should go to school; however at a later age, the individual aims higher in the learning. One of the most stated reasons why someone will need to further their education is for economic wellness. But to what extent does the level of education influence the economic well-being of an individual? The ordinary level of education that is high school graduates is regarded as basic and thus the need for furthering is the option to more income (Blaug, 1972). This paper looks into the economic value of education; our focus will be on post-high school education and post-degree.
White Color Job vs. Manual Laborer
Whit color jobs are paying more than the laborers’ jobs. The work in the offices or professional works are more paying in terms of salaries and job satisfaction. The professions are characterized by doing little and earning high. The professionals are highly learned and the manual laborers are the “servants” of the learned. The higher number of youth and middle-aged people in the United States are learned according to U.S. Census Bureau (July 2002). In 1975, over 63 percent of all Americans had acquired a high school diploma. In the number, 14 percent them are degree holders in
varying disciplines, in the year 2000 similar statistics revealed that 84 percent of individuals (aged 25 and above) possessed diplomas from high school diploma whereas 26% of them were degree holders. With this level of learned population; there is the need for an individual to do something extra so as he can stand out among the crowd. The obvious solution is to read further, take an extra course or a professional course. An example is in accounting field; previously someone who had taken a certified public accountant certificate was considered competitive enough in the sector, then it came the Bachelors degree in Accounting which was seen as more prestigious, those who had the certified public accountant became less competitive; now for one to term himself as competitive in this sector, he is supposed to have both the Bachelors degree and the professional course.
The emergence and the recognition of professional bodies in the country is another one that has made further learning a default. An example of this is the accounting sector. The employees are willing to employ those who are registered with the bodies than those who are not. The masses are encouraged to learn further. Most of the bodies negotiate for their member’s salaries and thus the effort that the person had made (Packer, 1993). On the other hand, the increased education level is seen as an extra, scarce, and unique expertise that the individual has acquired thus the payoff is often higher. After getting in a job place, what makes the difference between those people to be promoted and those who are not to be is the level of added education that one has in respect to the other. For example, nowadays the big companies and the government are employing graduates through the graduate trainees programs.
Under these, they are employing a large number at once. When a promotional chance comes into being, of course it pays higher; the graduates have the same level of education, same basic qualification and same period of experience. What is going to differentiate them is the added education that one has. The other away to look at it is from the economic environment, as the economies deteriorate, some companies are opting to retrench some of the employees that they have. One of the ways that this is conducted is by sacking those people who are less learned. From this angle, education is seen to assure one a continued income.
The literacy levels are weighed according to weights, the lower the weight the lower the education level. Those people with lower level of education earn a lower average annual income. There is no one point that the less learned have surpassed the highly learned in terms of income.
Table 1. Distribution of the 25 to 64-year-old population by level of earnings and educational attainment, Canada, 2006
The above is the analysis of formal employment. It is clear that the higher the individual the higher the amount of gain. The above figure illustrates the earning during the entire period of employment. Going by the analysis (above) we find that bachelor degree holders’ earnings is double that of school diploma holders. The results show that even if the difference may be small at the time that both of them were getting in the formal education, the rate of increase of the salary of the learned is so fast that it almost doubles the high school level worker.
Education and Labor Laws
The labor laws put a higher margin on the lowest salary that a graduate should be given. With this it is a direct advantage of a learned person and one who have not. In most cases the jobs that a learned person get are permanent jobs that he gets more access to loan facilities than the casual laborers; this will help him derive other means of getting money. In the indirect he will have gained out of the high education.
From the above graph, it is clear that the higher the level of one’s qualification the higher the income level. Those with high school qualifications earn lower than those who have attended tertiary level, and university graduates earn even higher.
Education and Social Status
“Birds of the same feather flock together” in case someone is learned, he is more likely to interact with people who are as learned as he or she, the interaction comes with numerous ideas that can be implemented for economic gain. The ideas are likely to be more beneficial than those that are implemented by the less learned. The spouse that the learned person is more likely to have is as learned as him or her; this will be a combined income between the spouses. Moving further the children are more likely to be given better education thus further higher income in the family (Gimpel, 2000).
Education and Technology
Today the level of technology is on the rise, for someone to be in line with the needs of it, he should keep himself up to date with what is happening in the business arena. By doing this he must go to school and further his education; by so doing he is more likely to earn more (Anonymous, 2010).
Conclusion
As the saying goes “Education is the key of life”, it is clear that the higher the education level that someone attains the higher the possibility that he is going to earn. The earnings may be in the way that he is going to plan his life or the gains that he is going to get from the employment. On the other hand, innovation which has a higher direct reward to the innovator comes with increased education. When one get more and more education about something, he is more likely to get to know the areas of weakness of the system and invent something. With more and more education comes the issue of expertise and an increased resource to the company; since the company wants to retain the employees then the experts are paid more. As much as aiming high in academics, there is the other side that experience is required for an effective innovation, it is even better when it is blended with a relevant education.
Reference List
Anonymous (2010). Technology Training and Equipment. (2008). The Skanner, p. S2-S3.
Blaug, M. (1972). The correlation between education and earnings: What does it signify? Amsterdam: Elsevier publishing company
Gimpel, J. (2000). Learning and earning: ENTREPRENEURIALISM IN ACADEMIA: Science Enterprise Centers aim to connect campus and commerce, says Jenny Gimpel; [London edition] Financial Times
Packer, H. (1993). Earning and learning major links to better living. HR Magazine, 38(4), 51.
Statistics Canada (2009). College and university graduates with low earnings in Canada – Demographic and labor market characteristics. Web.
U.S. Census Bureau, (2002). The Big Payoff: Educational Attainment and Synthetic Estimates of Work-Life Earnings. Web.