Second Chances or Growing Gaps? Educational Upgrading in Adulthood and Black-White Economic Inequality in Mid-Life: AERA Sessions, 11:36 AM

• In Event: e-Lightening Ed-Talk Session 8

Abstract

Does education in adulthood reduce or expand inequality between Black and White people? Using data from the NLSY 1979 cohort and both non-parametric and regression-based techniques, I examine the relationship between education in adulthood – which I refer to as educational upgrading – and Black-White earnings inequality in mid-life. I show that, although levels of educational upgrading are similar for Black and White people, Black people are more likely to move out of low-education categories, while White people are more likely to move into higher categories. This maintains and shifts, rather than reduces, educational inequality. Further, returns to educational upgrading are similar for Black and White people, but specific transitions (i.e., earning a college degree) are more lucrative, and White people are more likely to make these transitions. My results underscore that education is a life-long, racialized process that shapes Black-White inequality in complex and dynamic ways. Educational upgrading can be equalizing, but its equalizing potential is limited by inequalities established earlier in the life course.

Author

• Jane Furey, University of Michigan