Greater educational attainment brings increasing rewards. On average across OECD countries, full-time workers with upper secondary or post-secondary non-tertiary education earn 23% more than those without, while those with a tertiary degree earn 54% more than those with an upper secondary education. However, these averages mask significant variation depending on the fields studied.
Among adults with upper secondary or post-secondary non-tertiary attainment, those with a general qualification and those with a vocational qualification have similar relative earnings. The difference in relative earnings between adults with a general and vocational qualification is 5 or less percentage points in about one third of the countries with data. However, in a small group of countries, Austria, Finland, France, Germany and the United Kingdom, the difference in the earnings advantage is between 15 and 20 percentage points in favour of a general qualification.
Three years after graduation, young graduates with a bachelor’s or equivalent degree earn 62% more than those with an upper secondary qualification who completed their education at the same time. The earnings advantage varies from less than 25% in Norway and Sweden to about 100% or more in Chile, Lithuania and Turkey.
Education at a Glance 2020
Indicator A4. What are the earnings advantages from education?
Highlights
Figure A4.1. Relative earnings of adults with an upper secondary or post-secondary non-tertiary education compared to earnings of adults with below upper secondary education, by programme orientation (2018)
25-64 year-old workers (full-time full-year workers); below upper secondary education = 100
1. Year of reference differs from 2018. Refer to Table A4.1 for details.
2. Earnings net of income tax.
Countries are ranked in descending order of the relative earnings of 25-64 year-olds with an upper secondary or post-secondary non-tertiary education as the highest educational attainment level.
Source: OECD (2020). Education at a Glance Database, http://stats.oecd.org/. See Source section for more information and Annex 3 for notes (https://doi.org/10.1787/69096873-en).
Context
Higher levels of education usually translate into better employment opportunities (see Indicator A3) and higher earnings. The potential to earn more and see those earnings increase over time, along with other social benefits, is an important incentive for individuals to pursue education and training.
The earnings advantage with higher educational attainment levels can vary according to age, gender, level of tertiary education, programme orientation and field of study. Individuals with higher qualifications and more experience are more likely to earn higher wages. However, in all countries, gender gaps in earnings persist regardless of age, level of education, programme orientation or field of study.
A number of factors beyond education play a role in individuals’ earnings, including the demand for skills in the labour market, the supply of workers and their skills, the minimum wage and other labour-market laws, and structures and practices (such as the strength of labour unions, the coverage of collective-bargaining agreements and the quality of working environments). These factors also contribute to differences in the distribution of earnings.
Other findings
The earnings advantage of educational attainment generally widens as peoples’ careers progress. On average across OECD countries, 25-34 year-olds with tertiary education can expect to be earning nearly 50% more when they reach 45-54 years old. Those with an upper secondary or post-secondary non-tertiary education will earn about 20% more on average and those with below upper secondary education earn about 10% more. On average, salaries rise faster for those with a general upper secondary or post-secondary non-tertiary qualification than for those who with a vocational one. However, the differences between the two streams remain small in most countries.
Across all levels of attainment, the gender gap in earnings persists. Women in OECD countries with below upper secondary education who work full time earn 77% of the earnings of their male peers. The gender gap is similar for women with an upper secondary or post-secondary non-tertiary education and for women with tertiary education.
Three years after graduation, young adults with a master’s or equivalent degree earn more than their peers with a bachelor’s or equivalent degree as well as those who only attained upper secondary education. In half of countries with available data, the earnings of recent master’s graduates are more than double the earnings of recent graduates from upper secondary programmes, and the earnings advantage varies from about 50% in Latvia, Norway and Sweden to almost 200% in Chile.
Note
This indicator presents three types of relative earnings. The first uses the earnings of adults with below upper secondary education as a baseline. The results reflect the difference in earnings between adults without upper secondary education and those with upper secondary or post-secondary non-tertiary education. The second uses the earnings of adults whose highest level of educational attainment is upper secondary education as a baseline. The results reflect the difference in earnings between adults with upper secondary or post-secondary non-tertiary education and those with different levels of attainment. The third,on gender disparities in earnings, uses men’s earnings as a baseline. In all cases, given the focus on relative earnings, any increase or decrease in the results could reflect a change in the interest group (numerator) or in the baseline group (denominator). For example, higher relative earnings for tertiary-educated individuals may reflect higher earnings among tertiary-educated individuals and/or lower earnings among those with upper secondary education.
Analysis
Relative earnings of workers without tertiary education, by programme orientation
Upper secondary education is commonly considered the minimum educational attainment level for successful labour-market participation. Adults who did not attain upper secondary education not only have the lowest employment rate (see Indicator A3), but also the lowest earnings. The level of earnings increases with increased educational attainment.
On average across OECD countries, 25-64 year-olds in full-time employment with upper secondary or post-secondary non-tertiary education earn 23% more than those who have not attained upper secondary education. The relative earnings for these workers are highest in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, the Czech Republic and the United States, where adults with an upper secondary or post-secondary non-tertiary education earn at least 40% more than those with below upper secondary education (Figure A4.1).
In contrast, in a few countries, the earnings advantage of an upper secondary or post-secondary qualification is minor or negligible compared to someone with below upper secondary education. This is the case in Australia, Estonia, France and Ireland, where the earnings advantage does not exceed 10%. Interestingly, adults who have attained upper secondary or post-secondary education in these countries have still much better labour-market outcomes than those with below upper secondary education, indicated by a difference in employment rates of about 20 percentage points (see Indicator A3).
On average across OECD countries, adults with general and vocational qualifications at the upper secondary education or post-secondary non-tertiary attainment level have similar earnings levels. Their earnings are about 25% higher than that of their peers with below upper secondary education (Figure A4.1).
In about one third of OECD and partner countries, the difference in relative earnings of adults with a general and vocational upper secondary or post-secondary non-tertiary qualification is 5 or less percentage points. However, in some countries such as Austria, Finland, France, Germany or the United Kingdom, the difference in the earnings advantage is between 15 and 20 percentage points in favour of a general qualification. In some countries, a vocational qualification has a comparative earnings advantage over a general one. In Canada, Costa Rica and the Czech Republic the difference is about 20 percentage points or more in favour of a vocational qualification (Figure A4.1).
Relative earnings of tertiary-educated workers, by levels of tertiary education
In all OECD countries, earning differentials are generally wider between tertiary and upper secondary education than between upper secondary or post-secondary non-tertiary education and below upper secondary education. On average across OECD countries, 25-64 year-olds with a tertiary degree earn on average 54% more for full-time employment than those with upper secondary attainment (Figure A4.2).
Indeed, having a tertiary degree carries a considerable earnings advantage in most OECD and partner countries. Relative earnings for full-time workers are highest in Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Costa Rica, where adults with a tertiary education earn over twice as much as those with upper secondary education. In all of these countries, the share of adults with tertiary education is among the lowest in OECD and partner countries (less than 25%), which may partially explain the large earnings advantage of tertiary-educated workers (see Indicator A1; Figure A4.2).
The earnings advantage for tertiary-educated workers varies considerably by level of tertiary attainment, however. In most OECD member and partner countries, workers with a master’s or doctoral degree or equivalent earn more than those with a bachelor’s degree or equivalent, who in turn earn more than those with a short-cycle tertiary degree. On average across OECD countries, adults with a short-cycle tertiary degree earn about 20% more than those with an upper secondary education. The earnings advantage increases to 43% for those with a bachelor’s degree and to nearly 90% for those with a master’s or doctoral degree.
There are some important exceptions to this general pattern. In Estonia and Portugal, adults with a short-cycle tertiary degree earn less than those with an upper secondary education. In both cases, however, these groups represent relatively small shares of the tertiary-educated population.
Moreover, the earnings of workers with a short-cycle tertiary degree are higher than those of workers with a bachelor’s degree in Austria, Greece and Norway. With the exception of Greece, which is one of the countries with the highest short-cycle tertiary attainment rates, with at least 10% of adults having attained this level (see Indicator A1).
According to the analysis of data on recent graduates, available for 12 countries, relative earnings advantages are also substantial for young graduates who recently earned a bachelor’s, master’s or equivalent degree compared to those who recently completed their upper secondary qualification (Box A4.1).
Figure A4.2. Relative earnings of tertiary-educated adults compared to earnings of adults with an upper secondary education (2018)
25-64 year-old workers (full-time full-year workers); upper secondary education = 100
1. Year of reference differs from 2018. Refer to the source table for details.
2. Index 100 refers to the combined ISCED levels 3 and 4 of the educational attainment levels in the ISCED 2011 classification.
3. Bachelor's or equivalent includes short-cycle tertiary.
4. Earnings net of income tax.
Countries are ranked in descending order of the relative earnings of workers with any tertiary level of education.
Source: OECD (2020). Education at a Glance Database, http://stats.oecd.org/. See Source section for more information and Annex 3 for notes (https://doi.org/10.1787/69096873-en).
Earnings increases over time, by educational attainment
Higher educational attainment is associated with faster increases in earnings throughout a person’s working life, meaning the wage differentials across educational attainment levels tend to widen with age. On average across OECD countries, 45-54 year-olds without upper secondary education earn 10% more than their 25-34 year-old peers. Among adults with an upper secondary or post-secondary non-tertiary education, 45-54 year-olds earn 20% more and tertiary-educated older adults earn about 50% more than their younger peers (Figure A4.3).
Higher earnings among older age groups could mean either that earnings increase with experience or that earnings have fallen for younger generations (or a combination of both effects). In most OECD countries, increases over the course of a career is mainly determined by seniority-based pay schemes (where wages rise with seniority) and wage progression from growing work experience and responsibilities (OECD, 2019[1]). Despite the rapid rise in the share of adults who have attained tertiary education, the difference in earnings between older and younger tertiary-educated workers has changed only slightly over the last decade. In most countries, the relative earnings advantage by age has slightly increased but the change is less than 10 percentage points (OECD, 2020[2]). Therefore, the differences in earnings between older and younger adults are mostly the result of a positive relationship between the level of earnings and work experience. The differences can be interpreted as a proxy for the expected earnings development over the career.
The size of age-related earnings increases varies considerably across OECD and partner countries. In more than half of countries, the difference in the average earnings of 45-54 year-old and 25-34 year-old workers with below upper secondary education is less than 10%. This narrow gap may be due to greater work experience among 25-34 year-olds without upper secondary education, in contrast with young tertiary-educated adults who would only have left education recently. However, in Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain and the United Kingdom the earnings difference between these workers amounts to 25% or more (Figure A4.3).
In most OECD and partner countries, the difference in earnings between 45-54 year-olds and 25-34 year-olds is larger for those with upper secondary or post-secondary non-tertiary education than for those with below upper secondary education. The size of the difference varies from about 40% or more in Brazil, Italy, Ireland, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain to less than 10% in Chile, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland. In a few countries, however, young workers with an upper secondary or post-secondary non-tertiary education earn more than older workers. This is the case in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and the Slovak Republic (Figure A4.3).
Figure A4.3. Earnings of 45-54 year-olds relative to earnings of 25-34 year-olds, by educational attainment and programme orientation (2018)
Full-time full-year workers; earnings of 25-34 year-olds = 100
1. Year of reference differs from 2018. Refer to Table A4.1 for details.
2. Earnings net of income tax.
Countries are ranked in descending order of the share of 25-64 year-olds with upper secondary or post-secondary non-tertiary education.
Source: OECD (2020). Education at a Glance Database, http://stats.oecd.org/. See Source section for more information and Annex 3 for notes (https://doi.org/10.1787/f8d7880d-en).
In contrast, in about half of OECD and partner countries with available data, older adults with tertiary education earn at least 50% more than their younger peers. The difference in earnings between older and younger tertiary-educated adults is below 10 percentage points only in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, while it exceeds 60% in Austria, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain. A possible explanation for the increase in the earnings advantage of tertiary workers as they progress in their careers is that people with higher levels of education are more likely to be and remain employed, and may have more opportunities to gain experience on the job (Figure A4.3).
The earnings gap between older and younger workers with upper secondary or post-secondary non-tertiary education is wider for those who attended a general programme rather than a vocational one in most OECD and partner countries. In Austria, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Spain and Sweden the difference in earnings is over 20 percentage points more for those with a general qualification, while in Chile, Hungary and Israel, the earnings increase is larger for those with a vocational one (about 10 percentage points in all three countries).
The observed difference in earnings between older and younger adults with general or vocational qualifications seems to be consistent with the observation made by some researchers that vocational graduates have a comparative employment and earnings advantage at the beginning of their careers that diminishes over time and turns into an employment and earnings disadvantage compared with general graduates in the long term (Hanushek et al., 2017[3]; Brunello and Rocco, 2017[4]).
Box A4.1. Relative earnings of recent graduates
Some countries have longitudinally linked administrative data for students, combining study information with post-study employment information. Along with existing sample-based graduate and non-graduate surveys available in other countries, these data can provide further insights into the education-related growth in earnings of recent graduates aged 15-34 at the time of graduation.
In the 12 countries with available data, young adults with a bachelor’s or equivalent degree earn 62% more 3 years after graduation than those who completed their upper secondary education in the same year and are no longer in education. This earnings advantage for part-time and full-time young workers with a bachelor’s degree varies considerably across countries, from about 100% or more in Chile, Lithuania and Turkey to less than 25% in Norway and Sweden (Figure A4.4 – Panel A).
In all countries, the earnings advantage of recent bachelor’s graduates over those with upper secondary education is lower when comparing those in the same age group instead of the same number of years after graduation. For instance in Norway or Sweden – the two countries with the lowest earnings advantage three years after graduation – the earnings advantage vanishes when looking at 25-34 year-olds as a group. This shows that the earnings disadvantage of young upper secondary graduates has been partly compensated for by their additional years of professional experience at 25‑34 years old. However, in the long run the comparative advantage of tertiary-educated graduates increases five years after graduation (Table A4.4 and Figure A4.4 – Panel A).
Among countries with available data, three years after graduation, those with a master’s or equivalent degree earn more than their peers with a bachelor’s or equivalent degree and those who only attained upper secondary education. In about half of countries, the earnings of recent graduates with a master’s degree are more than double the earnings of those with an upper secondary qualification and the earnings advantage ranges from about 50% in Latvia, Norway and Sweden to almost 200% in Chile (Figure A4.4 – Panel B).
The evolution of the salaries of young master's graduates follows the same trend in most countries with data. Their earnings advantage over their peers with an upper secondary education decreases during the first five years after graduation. In Lithuania, for example, one year after graduation, master's degree holders earn about three times more than upper secondary school graduates. Three years on, the wage premium is only 150%, while five years after graduation it has fallen to 100%. On the other hand, in some countries, most notably Finland, New Zealand, Norway and Sweden, the variations over time in the relative earnings advantage of a master's degree compared to an upper secondary qualification are much smaller (Figure A4.4 – Panel B).
Figure A4.4. Relative earnings of recent bachelor's and master's or equivalent graduates compared to those with an upper secondary education, by years since graduation (2018)
Full- and part-time workers aged 15-34 years, not in education, upper secondary education = 100
1. Year of reference 2017.
2. The category "three years" since graduation refers to two years.
3. Earnings net of income tax.
4. Upper secondary general graduates only.
Countries are ranked in descending order of the relative earnings of workers with a bachelor's or equivalent degree three years after graduation.
Source: OECD (2020), Data collection on labour-market outcomes of recent graduates.
Differences in earnings between women and men, by educational attainment
Women do not earn as much as men in any OECD or partner country. Across OECD countries, women with below upper secondary education who work full time earn 77% of the earnings of their male peers, a gender gap of 23%. A similar gender gap in earnings is observed for women with an upper secondary or post-secondary non-tertiary education (22%), or women with tertiary education (24%) (Annex Table A4.3).
As women are more likely to work part-time than men, the gender gap in the average earnings of all workers (including full-time and part-time earners) is even wider. On average across OECD countries, women with below upper secondary education in full-time or part-time work earn only 69% of the earnings of similarly educated men and women with secondary or post-secondary non-tertiary education and tertiary-educated women earn only 70% of the earnings of similarly educated men (OECD, 2020[2]).
The reasons for the gender gap in earnings include gender stereotyping, social conventions and discrimination against women, but also differences between men and women in their choice of fields of study. Gender stereotypes and social conventions may also contribute to the observed differences in fields of study between men and women. Men are more likely than women to study in fields associated with higher earnings, such as engineering, manufacturing and construction, and information and communication technologies (ICT), while a larger share of women enrol in fields associated with lower earnings, including education, and arts and humanities (OECD, 2019[5]).
In recent years, awareness of the differences in pay between men and women has risen. Many countries have introduced new national policies to reduce disparities in earnings between men and women. Some countries have put in place concrete measures, such as pay transparency, to foster equity in pay between men and women (OECD, 2017[6]). In most of the countries with available data, the gender gap between the earnings of tertiary-educated men and women narrowed between 2010 and 2018. On average across the 18 OECD countries with data for both years, the gap fell by about 3 percentage points, reaching over 5 percentage points in Australia, Estonia, Korea, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Norway (OECD, 2020[2]).
Box A4.2. Choice of field of studies and expected earnings
Data on education and earnings by field of study have been collected for Education at a Glance 2019 and are available for 12 countries: Austria, Chile, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. The data combined with the data collected in the annual UOE data collection on new entrants by field of study allow to gain more insights in the students’ choice of fields of study and the earnings levels in these fields.
The earnings advantage for tertiary-educated adults also varies by their field of study. The two broad fields of study most commonly associated with the highest earnings are engineering, manufacturing and construction, and information and communication technologies (ICT). While tertiary-educated adults earned 56% more for part-time and full-time work in 2017 than adults with upper secondary education, regardless of their field of study, on average in the 12 OECD countries with available data, the earnings advantage for the best-paid fields is about 80%. The two broad fields of studies associated with the lowest earnings are arts and humanities, and education. Adults who graduated from these fields earn about 25% more than their peers with an upper secondary education do (Figure A4.5).
From an economic point of view, one might expect the choice of field of study of young students to be strongly determined by the expected employment and earnings outcomes. In other words, the field of study with the highest expected earnings level should also attract the largest share of new entrants into tertiary education. A comparison of the earnings advantage by field of study with the share of new entrants into each field, using the average across the 12 OECD countries with available data, shows that the correlation between them is only weak.
Only half of the broad fields shown in Figure A4.5 support the hypothesis that students’ preferences in field of study are related to relative earnings. For arts and humanities (earnings advantage of 17%), and education (25%) the low level of relative earnings correspond to low shares of new entrants (10% for arts and humanities, and 8% for education). Conversely, the high relative earnings for graduates in engineering, manufacturing and construction, and business, administration and law correspond to high shares of new entrants (16% for engineering, manufacturing and construction, and 23% for business, administration and law). In contrast, the relative earnings advantage for ICT graduates is 78% but the share of new entrants is 5%, while the earnings advantage for natural sciences, mathematics and statistics is 66% but only 7% of new entrants chose this broad field. However, in some countries access to some fields of study is limited to the number of places available and students have to pass successfully the selection process (see Indicator D6 in (OECD, 2019[5]) and Figure A4.5).
Although not shown in the figure, the conclusion remains the same when analysing countries individually, except for Chile, Portugal and Sweden, where the fields of study with the highest relative earnings are also the most popular (see Table A4.4 and (OECD, 2019[5]; OECD, 2020[7])).
A number of reasons explain the weak effect of wages on enrolment. These include limitations in the number of admissions of students in some fields of study, the corresponding labour markets, lack of information on expected earnings in different fields, and students’ personal interests and motivation.
Moreover, using higher earnings as a proxy for market demand, these figures also suggest a potential imbalance in some countries between the fields most in demand by the labour market and the current supply of graduates (see also Education at a Glance 2017 (OECD, 2017[8]), Indicator A6). Therefore, understanding students’ choice of fields is critical for policy makers, as the distribution of new tertiary entrants in different fields of study may predict a lack of qualified workers in some fields.
Figure A4.5. Relationship between the share of tertiary new entrants and relative earnings, by field of study (2017)
Average across OECD countries with available data
Source: OECD (2020). Education at a Glance Database, http://stats.oecd.org/. See Source section for more information and Annex 3 for notes (https://doi.org/10.1787/f8d7880d-en).
Definitions
Adults refer to 25-64 year-olds.
Educational attainment refers to the highest level of education attained by a person.
Fields of study are categorised according to the ISCED Fields of Education and Training (ISCED-F 2013).
Levels of education: See the Reader’s Guide at the beginning of this publication for a presentation of all ISCED 2011 levels.
Methodology
The analysis of relative earnings of the population with specific educational attainment and of the distribution of earnings includes full-time and part-time workers. It does not control for hours worked, although the number of hours worked is likely to influence earnings in general and the distribution in particular. The analysis of differences in earnings between men and women include full-time workers only. For the definition of full-time earnings, countries were asked whether they had applied a self-designated full-time status or a threshold value for the typical number of hours worked per week.
Earnings data are based on an annual, monthly or weekly reference period, depending on the country. The length of the reference period for earnings also differs. Data on earnings are before income tax for most countries. Earnings of self-employed people are excluded for many countries and, in general, there is no simple and comparable method to separate earnings from employment and returns to capital invested in a business.
This indicator does not take into consideration the impact of effective income from free government services. Therefore, although incomes could be lower in some countries than in others, the state could be providing both free healthcare and free schooling, for example.
Data presented at the country level are average earnings, but there can be significant variations for individuals. Data shown in Table A4.2 “Level of earnings relative to median earnings, by educational attainment (2018)” illustrate the earnings variations among individuals.
The total average for earnings (men plus women) is not the simple average of the earnings figures for men and women. Instead, it is the average based on earnings of the total population. This overall average weights the average earnings separately for men and women by the share of men and women with different levels of educational attainment.
Please see the OECD Handbook for Internationally Comparative Education Statistics 2018 (OECD, 2018[9]) for more information and Annex 3 for country-specific notes (https://doi.org/10.1787/69096873-en).
Source
The indicator is based on the data collection on education and earnings by the OECD Labour Market and Social Outcomes of Learning Network (LSO Network). The data collection takes account of earnings for individuals working full time and full year, as well as part time or part year, during the reference period. This database contains data on dispersion of earnings from work and on student earnings versus non-student earnings. The source for most countries is national household surveys such as Labour Force Surveys (LFS), the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) or other dedicated surveys collecting data on earnings. About one-quarter of countries use data from tax or other registers. Please see Annex 3 for country-specific notes on the national sources (https://doi.org/10.1787/69096873-en).
References
[4] Brunello, G. and L. Rocco (2017), “The labor market effects of academic and vocational education over the life cycle: Evidence based on a British cohort”, Journal of Human Capital, Vol. 11/1, pp. 106-166, http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/690234.
[3] Hanushek, E. et al. (2017), “General education, vocational education, and labor-market outcomes over the life cycle”, The Journal of Human Resources, Vol. 52/1, pp. 48-87, http://dx.doi.org/10.3368/jhr.52.1.0415-7074R.
[2] OECD (2020), Education and earnings, Education at a Glance Database, OECD.Stat, http://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?datasetcode=EAG_EARNINGS.
[7] OECD (2020), Education at a Glance Database - Entrants by field, http://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?datasetcode=EDU_ENTR_FIELD.
[5] OECD (2019), Education at a Glance 2019: OECD Indicators, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://dx.doi.org/10.1787/f8d7880d-en.
[1] OECD (2019), Working Better with Age, Ageing and Employment Policies, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://dx.doi.org/10.1787/c4d4f66a-en.
[9] OECD (2018), OECD Handbook for Internationally Comparative Education Statistics 2018: Concepts, Standards, Definitions and Classifications, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264304444-en.
[8] OECD (2017), Education at a Glance 2017: OECD Indicators, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://dx.doi.org/10.1787/eag-2017-en.
[6] OECD (2017), The Pursuit of Gender Equality: An Uphill Battle, OECD Publishing, Paris, http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264281318-en.
Indicator A4 Tables
Table A4.1 Relative earnings of workers, by educational attainment (2018)
Table A4.2 Level of earnings relative to median earnings, by educational attainment (2018)
Table A4.3 Women’s earnings as a percentage of men's earnings, by educational attainment and age group (2018)
Table A4.4 Relative earnings of workers, by educational attainment and age (2018)
Cut-off date for the data: 19 July 2020. Any updates on data can be found on line at http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/eag-data-en. More breakdowns can also be found at http://stats.oecd.org/, Education at a Glance Database.
StatLink: https://doi.org/10.1787/888934162356
Table A4.1. Relative earnings of workers, by educational attainment (2018)
25-64 year-olds with income from employment (full-time full-year workers)
Note: See Definitions and Methodology sections for more information. Additional columns showing data for additional educational attainment levels are available for consultation on line. Data and more breakdowns are available at http://stats.oecd.org/, Education at a Glance Database.
1. Year of reference 2017.
2. Index 100 refers to the combined ISCED levels 3 and 4 in the ISCED 2011 classification.
3. Year of reference 2016.
4. Earnings net of income tax.
5. Year of reference 2014.
6. Year of reference 2015.
Source: OECD (2020). See Source section for more information and Annex 3 for notes (https://doi.org/10.1787/69096873-en).
Please refer to the Reader's Guide for information concerning symbols for missing data and abbreviations.
Table A4.2. Level of earnings relative to median earnings, by educational attainment (2018)
Median earnings from work for 25-64 year-olds with earnings (full- and part-time workers) for all levels of education
Note: See Definitions and Methodology sections for more information. Data and more breakdowns are available at http://stats.oecd.org/, Education at a Glance Database.
1. Earnings net of income tax.
2. Year of reference 2017.
3. Year of reference 2016.
4. Year of reference 2014.
5. Data refer to full-time, full-year earners only.
6. Year of reference 2015.
Source: OECD (2020). See Source section for more information and Annex 3 for notes (https://doi.org/10.1787/69096873-en).
Please refer to the Reader's Guide for information concerning symbols for missing data and abbreviations.
Table A4.3. Women’s earnings as a percentage of men's earnings, by educational attainment and age group (2018)
Average earnings of adults with income from employment (full-time full-year workers)
Note: See Definitions and Methodology sections for more information. Data and more breakdowns are available at http://stats.oecd.org/, Education at a Glance Database.
1. Year of reference 2017.
2. Year of reference 2016.
3. Earnings net of income tax.
4. Year of reference 2014.
5. Year of reference 2015.
Source: OECD (2020). See Source section for more information and Annex 3 for notes (https://doi.org/10.1787/69096873-en).
Please refer to the Reader's Guide for information concerning symbols for missing data and abbreviations.
Table A4.4. Relative earnings of workers, by educational attainment and age (2018)
25-64 year-olds with income from employment (full-time full-year workers); upper secondary education = 100
Note: See Definitions and Methodology sections for more information. Data and more breakdowns are available at http://stats.oecd.org/, Education at a Glance Database.
1. Year of reference 2017.
2. Index 100 refers to the combined ISCED levels 3 and 4 of the educational attainment levels in the ISCED 2011 classification.
3. Year of reference 2016.
4. Earnings net of income tax.
5. Year of reference 2014.
Source: OECD (2020). See Source section for more information and Annex 3 for notes (https://doi.org/10.1787/69096873-en).
Please refer to the Reader's Guide for information concerning symbols for missing data and abbreviations.