Rocky Pathways From Youth to a Good Job

Georgetown University Center on Education and the WorkforceGeorgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce (CEW) released two new reports that showed how by age 35, workers with a bachelor’s degree or higher are nearly twice as likely as workers with just a high school diploma to land a good job. Yet race, class, and gender disparities compound inequalities on the uneven journey to good jobs as well as wealth.

“We found the story of millennials transitioning to the workforce is more nuanced than people usually describe it,” said Kathryn Campbell, associate director of editorial policy and senior editor/writer at CEW as well as one of the report’s authors. “If you have a bachelor’s degree, you’re in a pretty strong position relative to baby boomers at those same ages. But for all other groups without a bachelor’s degree, there is more of a lag. And that lag really has implications for how firm your footing is in economic independence.”

The two reports came out of CEW’s “The Uncertain Pathway from Youth to a Good Job,” which is funded by a philanthropy investment from JPMorgan Chase. One of the reports looked at how the pathway from youth to adult economic independence has shifted across generations. The second report unpacked persistent opportunity gaps among demographic groups, especially by race and gender.

The reports defined a good job as paying at least $35,000 per year and $57,000 at the median nationwide for young workers, or those ages 25 to 35. According to the reports, about 80% of older millennials with a bachelor’s degree or higher had a good job at age 35, compared with 56% of those with some college or an associate’s degree, 42% of those with just a high school diploma, and 26% of people with less than a high school diploma.

One of the report’s authors, Artem Gulish, senior policy strategist and research faculty at CEW, pointed out how race, gender, and ethnicity—in addition to education level—shape pathways to a good job. And even then, a good job does not mean wealth. 

“What we are seeing is that discrimination in society basically continues to play a role,” said Gulish.

For example, the median net worth of young white men with no more than a high school diploma is more than 2.5 times that of young Black women with a bachelor’s degree or higher. Black women have disproportionately high student debt loads, the reports note, which contributes to a wealth gap. Bias in the workforce further play into pay and promotion inequities for Black women.