How is a person's income related to the years of education they've had? (Torrance: how much, lawyers)

[linfan9]

Hi! I am a high-schooler doing a research project on the relationship between the years of education a person has had and their yearly income. My goal is to get enough data to compare two cities in the U.S. So please take a few moments to answer these quick questions! Thank you so much!

-How many years of education have you had? (Start from Grade 1 and count up)

- What is your current yearly income?

[SunnyTXsmile]

Originally Posted by linfan9

Hi! I am a high-schooler doing a research project on the relationship between the years of education a person has had and their yearly income. My goal is to get enough data to compare two cities in the U.S. So please take a few moments to answer these quick questions! Thank you so much!

-How many years of education have you had? (Start from Grade 1 and count up)

- What is your current yearly income?

I'm not sure that many people would be willing to list their income in a public forum. You might want to try locating statistics on Google. You might also consider doing something anonymous like SurveyMonkey.

Good luck with the research! You're going to do great!

[canadian citizen]

I'm retired , age 66, and live in Canada.

I have had 19 years of education, 12 years in elementary and high school, 4 years in University achieving a BA in Canadian history, and 3 years of post graduate studies, to achieve a Masters' in military history.

In my last five years of working, I had an annual income above 85 thousand dollars a year. That is just about double the annual average income, in Canada, for a single person, which is about 42K a year.

So yes, the more formal education a person gets, the greater their ability to earn a good income.

By the way, my career path was not connected to my educational path. I served in the Canadian Forces, as a military Police investigator, for 30 years. My education was a personal choice, and reflected my interests. You could say that I was "over qualified " in terms of my day to day work, but the CF had no problem with me being a long term student. They actually paid to have me travel back from Europe, to deliver my thesis. And this was in the days before "distance learning " with computer on-line training.

Compared to most Americans, Canadians have a higher level of education, with 53 percent of our adult population holding at least one 4 year University degree. In the USA, that number is about 30 percent.

Jim B

Toronto.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by linfan9

Hi! I am a high-schooler doing a research project on the relationship between the years of education a person has had and their yearly income. My goal is to get enough data to compare two cities in the U.S. So please take a few moments to answer these quick questions! Thank you so much!

-How many years of education have you had? (Start from Grade 1 and count up)

- What is your current yearly income?

Did your teacher approve of this project and the "scientific methods" by which you plan to obtain data?

[ccm123]

A person's income level is generally directly correlated with education levels.

Educational attainment in the United States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[disgruntled la native]

I think that was true before this great recession. In years past you'd make much more money the better the degree you got . Now...

-Four years BA with a degree in English/History/Multicultural Studies does not give you a leg up over a high school diploma. Even from a top school. I speak from experience, and the experiences of hundreds of people I've met. If you're going to UCLA or USC and studying poli sci, you're not better off than the guy who worked at mcdonalds for 4 years and is now shift supervisor. Probably worse, especially if you went to a fancy private uni and are in debt. The exception is that if you worked during college or did internships (unpaid work). I will say that engineering and some hard science Bachelors degrees do give you a leg up.

-Masters degrees... well with the excception of psychology and teaching, most masters programs need you to go ahead and get the Ph.d. before you can do anything. We know how competitive teaching jobs are and how much they make, and just because you have a masters in psych doesn't mean you can make a living.

-Ph.Ds have more schooling than anyone, but job prospects for them are slim to none. Even if they get entry level professor which is far from guaranteed, they are making 40-50k a year. Someone who spent 12 years in the workforce vs 12 years in academia is almost certainly going to be doing better. At least a typical PH.d wont leave you in debt.

-JDs used to be guaranteed success. Now most law students are 150k in debt and with minimal job prospects (except from top university grads). Most lawyers are not rich

-MDs still do well, but that's what, 12 years of schooling and 250k in debt? Doctor salaries are rapidly declining too.

[Captain Obvious]

Originally Posted by disgruntled la native

I think that was true before this great recession. In years past you'd make much more money the better the degree you got . Now...

-Four years BA with a degree in English/History/Multicultural Studies does not give you a leg up over a high school diploma. Even from a top school. I speak from experience, and the experiences of hundreds of people I've met. If you're going to UCLA or USC and studying poli sci, you're not better off than the guy who worked at mcdonalds for 4 years and is now shift supervisor. Probably worse, especially if you went to a fancy private uni and are in debt. The exception is that if you worked during college or did internships (unpaid work). I will say that engineering and some hard science Bachelors degrees do give you a leg up.

-Masters degrees... well with the excception of psychology and teaching, most masters programs need you to go ahead and get the Ph.d. before you can do anything. We know how competitive teaching jobs are and how much they make, and just because you have a masters in psych doesn't mean you can make a living.

-Ph.Ds have more schooling than anyone, but job prospects for them are slim to none. Even if they get entry level professor which is far from guaranteed, they are making 40-50k a year. Someone who spent 12 years in the workforce vs 12 years in academia is almost certainly going to be doing better. At least a typical PH.d wont leave you in debt.

-JDs used to be guaranteed success. Now most law students are 150k in debt and with minimal job prospects (except from top university grads). Most lawyers are not rich

-MDs still do well, but that's what, 12 years of schooling and 250k in debt? Doctor salaries are rapidly declining too.

Do you have any idea how many entry level jobs require a college education? I am not saying that it is a great idea to get a PhD in Multicultural studies with a thesis on racism in video games, but just a having a high school diploma isn't so great either.

As for McDonalds, a shift manager makes $9.25 an hour.

McDonald's Jobs: Find a Career @ McDonald's - Torrance / 190th

As for the OP's question you could run a search on http://www.indeed.com/ for two separate cities under different salaries and see what the educational requirements are.

[Fontucky]

There are free anon survey sites.

[Joe Van Fossen]

Originally Posted by Captain Obvious

I am not saying that it is a great idea to get a PhD in Multicultural studies with a thesis on racism in video games...

ARRGH!! I knew I went wrong somewhere!

[disgruntled la native]

Originally Posted by Captain Obvious

Do you have any idea how many entry level jobs require a college education? I am not saying that it is a great idea to get a PhD in Multicultural studies with a thesis on racism in video games, but just a having a high school diploma isn't so great either.

As for McDonalds, a shift manager makes $9.25 an hour.

McDonald's Jobs: Find a Career @ McDonald's - Torrance / 190th

As for the OP's question you could run a search on Job Search | one search. all jobs. Indeed.com for two separate cities under different salaries and see what the educational requirements are.

If you're going to go to college you should be focusing on degrees that aren't a waste of time. I personally did a Poli Sci degree that has contributed zero to my job prospects. The only skills I gained from college were the various unpaid internships I did.

SMC to a Cal State is going to save you a lot of money and headache and give you equal if not greater value compared to some top 20 liberal arts college in the northeast.