Making the (Pay) Grade: Racial Variance in Financial Payoff to Academic Success

• In Event: 207 - Section on Sociology of Education Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 14. Labor Market Outcomes and Returns to Education

Abstract

This paper examines the role of academic prosperity in determining racial wage inequality among fulltime workers by age 26. Bivariate analysis indicates that whites earn significantly more money per year than do blacks and Hispanics, but less than Asians; while socioeconomic status explains the Hispanic disadvantage relative to whites, the gap between whites and blacks remains strongly significant after accounting for highest degree earned, high school academic performance, cognitive skills and timeliness of college graduation. Controlling for occupation and employment sector reduce this gap slightly, but these findings nevertheless reveal a black/non-black dichotomy in income attainment and suggest that race has a powerful explanatory effect on income regardless of academic success.

Author

• Ervin (Maliq) Matthew, University of Cincinnati