The “Marriage Premium”
In this EconLog post, George Mason University economics professor Bryan Caplan observes that the “college earnings premium” is said to be 34%, but that the “marriage premium” for men is substantially higher — 44%. So if it is good policy to promote college attendance and graduation because people will earn more, why not do the same for marriage? The “marriage premium” helps to show the silliness of the notion that just because someone does something (getting a college degree, getting married), he will therefore vault into a higher earnings bracket.
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I think that getting a college degree probably will vault somebody into a higher earnings bracket, but I don’t think this is necessary. It is true that many jobs require a 4 year degree, but I question the reason why. We have drilled the idea that “you must go to college” into everyone’s heads for so long now that employers probably require a degree because they think they have to in order to get good applicants. I completely disagree that a college education alone will make somebody a better employee. The problem is that we have essentially manufactured the importance of a college education by requiring it for many jobs where it really isn’t necessary. Outside of some technical fields, I don’t see what makes a degree so important. A hard worker is a hard worker whether they went to college or not. Sure, college may make somebody better at writing, speaking, math, etc., but if they couldn’t do it before college, then the failure lies with the K-12 education system.
I agree that the idea that a degree makes somebody a better employee is foolish, but unfortunately, our society has made it necessary by making it a hoop to jump through.