Despite decades of efforts to bridge the gap, disparities in health and wealth between Black and white individuals remain stark and persistent. One aspect of structural racial inequality in the United States is diminished returns of education for Black individuals relative to whites. In our UM24-01 project, we find evidence of this phenomenon relative to retirement. Specifically, we show that highly educated Black individuals retire earlier, in worse health, and with less savings compared to their white counterparts. Interestingly, we show that occupational level fully explains the interaction between race and education in predicting these outcomes, suggesting the need to delve deeper into racial differences in the connection between education and occupation. A large research literature documents the important role of education for occupational selection with higher levels of education generally leading to higher status occupations. Less research attention has been paid to occupational selection by race and few, if any, studies have examined the role of racial variation in the effect of education on selection into occupation.
Projects /
The Role of Segregation and Gender in Moderating Blacks’ Diminished Returns of Education on Occupational Classes
Published: 2025
Project ID: UM25-08