Letters to the Editor
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‘Gaining Security in the Workforce’
Diana Furchtgott-Roth suggests that education helps those with college degrees to have a 2% unemployment rate versus a 4% unemployment rate for high school graduates and that that fact points to the importance of education. [Oped, “Gaining Security in the Workforce,” January 12]. But does it?
If someone with a college degree has an expected 45 year working life, the high school graduate has 49 years. Deduct the expected unemployment and we get a total of 44 years for the college graduate and 47 years for the high school graduate. The college graduate did not collect unemployment for four years but actually paid for those years. Compound interest on early income and student loans further increases the disadvantage of the college educated.
The picture gets more complex if we include the expected earnings, expected health, etc.
Arguing that a 2% difference in unemployment points to the importance of a college degree is simplistic and, on the face of it, incorrect.
EUGEN TARNOW
Fair Lawn, N.J.
Ms. Furchtgott-Roth’s reply:
If Mr. Tarnow were correct, then one would expect to see few people trying to get into college. A college degree not only reduces unemployment and the uncertainty of finding a new job, but raises expected lifetime income. A 98% chance of being employed in a well-paying job is always better than a 96% chance of being employed in a less-well-paying job. As the returns to skill in our economy rise, education and training are all the more important.
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