Unemployment by Education Level

Education and Unemployment

There is a clear connection between educational attainment and unemployment rate. As expected, the people with the highest rate of unemployment are the people without even a high school degree. The unemployment rate for this group is almost triple that of college graduates. In general, the more education you have, the better off you are.

The percentage of the population that has a college degree has been relatively stable in the 30% range. And there is a large part of the population that could probably use yet more college education. Putting these two together, the conclusion is evident: It pays to go to college, and it would also be good if the percentage of the population who are college graduates could increase.

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