The Effect of Low Educational Attainment on Incomes: A Comparative Study of Selected Ethnic Groups

On the basis of 1960 Census data, this study shows that a given educational attainment has less income value for disadvantaged minority groups than for the majority (referred to as "Anglos"). The hypothesis is partially substantiated that the more closely members of a minority group approach the appearance of the majority group, the greater their economic potential. Data is also presented to discount the notion that the relative size of a minority group in a local population is important. The study of Japanese-Americans' educational attainment indicates a time lag of over a decade between the investment in increased education of this dissimilar minority and commensurate economic returns. Achievement of majority levels of income is delayed until long after the ethnic group has matched majority educational attainments. Educational attainment accounted for less than half of the difference between the 1959 median income of minority groups and of Anglos, except that it was much higher for the Spanish group, which bore the closest similarity to the majority group.