Why Today's High-School-Educated Males Earn Less than Their Fathers Did: The Problem and an Assessment of Responses

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Abstract
Since 1972, high-school-educated males have experienced a dramatic decrease in labor market earnings, making them the first generation since World War II to experience a lower standard of living than their fathers. In this article, Richard Murnane and Frank Levy examine this downward trend in earnings, citing the shift in job opportunities from manufacturing to the service sector and technological changes within the workplace as contributing factors to the income decline. In the final section of the article, the authors provide an analysis of recent educational policy initiatives aimed at improving U.S. education and increasing the skill level of new workers. They offer a framework of questions that challenges the design and implementation of these initiatives and points to critical issues that must be considered if these initiatives are to improve the education and earnings prospects of high-school-educated males.

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