Among Illinois high school seniors from the classes of 2008 to 2012 who met study parameters:
1. What were the demographic characteristics of students from low-income households?
2. What post-secondary education degrees did students from low-income households attain and in what degree programs?
- What industries did students from low-income households go on to work in?
3. How did students' career earnings vary by the income level of the households they grew up in?
- How did this pattern vary by students' demographic characteristics?
- How did this pattern vary by students' highest educational degree, program of study, and industry of work?
Does college still lead to better economic outcomes? This study, done in collaboration with the Illinois Workforce & Education Research Collaborative (IWERC), shows that a college degree still leads to better economic outcomes—and work is needed so that more of Illinois’s students can access that payoff.
IWERC and the Consortium partnered with the Illinois State Board of Education, the Illinois Student Assistance Commission, and the Illinois Department of Employment Security to examine the employment outcomes of Illinois high school seniors from the classes of 2008 to 2012 who met study parameters. This research used a unique data set called the Illinois High School 2 Career, which tracks students from high school graduation through post-secondary education/training (if any) and into the workforce. It examines the pathways taken by students from different economic backgrounds after high school and how those pathways are related to their later economic outcomes.
This research sheds light on how the state could support all students, including students from disadvantaged backgrounds, in accessing stable and well-paying jobs.
Key Takeaways
- Educational attainment and industry of employment were better at predicting Illinois students’ earnings outcomes than their economic origins alone.
- On average, students who earned degrees went on to earn more, regardless of race, gender, or how much their parents earned.
- Certain degree programs and industries of employment were consistently associated with higher earnings for all student groups.
- Yet students’ economic origins were strongly related to their educational attainment and industries of employment, contributing to persistent income disparities across generations.
- Illinois students from low-income families earned lower levels of education and were overrepresented in lower-earning industries compared to students from higher-income families.
- Even with the same educational degree, degree program, or industry of employment, students from low-income families earned less than those from higher-income families.
- Among students from low-income families, Black and Latino students and women earned less than their White and male peers.
Key Findings
- Students who earned higher educational degrees went on to earn more, on average. This was true for students of all economic backgrounds.
- Specific degree program and industry mattered — some were higher-earning than others for all student groups.
- Students from lower-income families were less likely to attain higher degrees or work in higher-earning industries.
- Even with the same educational degree, degree program or industry of employment, students from lower-income families earned less than those from higher-income families, on average.
