In contrast, lower-skilled workers have suffered in recent years from competitive pressures that are related in part to the outsourcing of low-skilled jobs abroad. The institution of universal education in the United States has allowed our workforce to adapt to the changing skill requirements of the economy.
In the late 1800s, school enrollment rates among children held steady at about 50 percent and high school graduation rates remained below 5 percent, a pattern consistent with the absence of a significant wage premium for educated labor.