WASHINGTON, Feb. 11 (UPI) -- A new economic study finds younger Americans with a college degree earn on average $17,500 more per year than those with only a high school diploma.
The study, conducted by the Pew Research Center, found among Americans ages 25 to 32, so-called millennials, the income disparity between those who earned a four-year college degree and those whose formal education stopped after high school is considerably higher than in previous generations.
In addition to earning more, the unemployment rates in the two groups is considerable -- 3.8 percent for college grads, 12.2 percent for non-college grads.
In 2013, Pew said the average millennial with a bachelor's degree earned $45,500. Those without a college degree earned a median salary of $28,000, the study found. By contrast, in 1979, the spread was $42,000 for college grads and $31,300 for non-college workers.
Polling was conducted Oct. 7-27 and surveyed 982 individuals ages 18 to 34. The margin of error is 2.7 percentage points. Economic data was derived from the U.S. Census Bureau.
