While the cost of education continues to rise, the earnings of young adults fresh out of college have failed to keep pace with it. Since the 1980s, college tuition has increased by 169 percent, but wages for young people have only increased by 19 percent during the same period in the US, revealed a recent report.

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‘If Not Now, When? The Urgent Need for an All-One-System Approach to Youth Policy,’ a report from Georgetown University, highlighted the growing pressure that young workers face when they try to transition to the workforce from education.

“Postsecondary education policy has failed to keep higher education affordable even as formal education beyond high school has become more essential,” reads the report.

“Today, two out of three jobs require postsecondary education and training, while three out of four jobs in the 1970s required a high school diploma or less. Yet while young people today need more education than ever to compete in the labor market, a college education is more expensive than in the past,” it added.

The report highlighted how median earnings for young adults with college degrees hover around $45,000 and for those without college degrees the earnings are at $30,000. At the same time, typical costs for college tuitions range from $27,330 for public in-state universities to $55,800 for private non-profit colleges.

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The report estimates that now it takes longer for young people to settle down with good jobs. While earlier, people in their mid-20s could establish their careers, now they do so only in their 30s. Some of the pressures on young people -- as they transition to economic independence -- highlighted by the report are: Structural economic change, lack of investment in young people, disconnect between K–12 and work, and racial and class inequality.

“Children from families in the top quartile by family socioeconomic status (SES) who have low test scores have a 71 percent chance of being in the top half by SES in their late 20s. However, children from families from the bottom SES quartile but with top test scores have only a 31 percent chance of being in the top half by SES in their late 20s,” said the report.

“We haven’t connected the dots from early childhood, through K–12 and postsecondary education, to careers,” said Anthony P. Carnevale, lead author and CEW director. “We need an all-one-system approach that facilitates smooth transitions on the pathway from youth dependence to adult independence.”

(Edited by : Shoma Bhattacharjee)