I wonder about the median income. Another statistic says that more people have at least a Bachelor degree. Consequently, more people start working at a later age, reducing the median income. On the other hand, new employees with a degree should earn more. It would be interesting to know the interaction between the two.
"On the other hand, new employees with a degree should earn more."
Its the other way around, if the jobs don't change but the number of degrees granted increases, then assuming degree holders cluster at the higher end, building downward would have to result in average salary of a degree holder decreasing over time.
Another interesting statistic is lifetime income. If you have a job that does not require a degree, and spend 10% of your working life earning a degree instead of earning income, your lifetime income will be about 10% lower. Its actually worse because starting wage for a coffee barista or waiter is the same, but presumably toward the end of your career you'll make more at a better job, but a degree holder will have retired for years 36-40 whereas a non-degree holder will continue to earn income for the full 40 years at the higher 36-40 yr rate. You'd see this a lot more in the trades, obviously 4 extra years of union master payscale is worth more than 4 extra years of journeyman.
