Education and Earnings

In nearly all jobs, earnings increase with age. This is probably more pronounced the higher the educational requirements are for the job. White workers are on average considerably older than Asian or Latino workers in California. I suspect that this might explain, at least partly, why individuals from the latter minorities earn less than whites of the same educational level. This possible effect can be taken into account by calculating “age-adjusted” earnings for each racial group at each educational level. The Times should present the age-adjusted figures to eliminate this bias.

OLIVER HANKINSON

Los Angeles