Mixed Picture for U.S. Education System in Latest OECD Report

 

WASHINGTON, November 24, 2015 — The United States lags behind other OECD countries in areas ranging from pre-K enrollment to educational mobility between generations, but is the global leader in the international college education market, according to a new OECD report.

 

Education at a Glance 2015 reveals that pre-K enrollment rates in the U.S. are 41% at age 3 and 66% by age 4 — one of the lowest among OECD countries where the averages are 72% and 88% respectively.

 

While starting salaries for teachers in the United States are higher than most other countries, there is a larger pay gap between teachers and similarly educated professionals in other sectors. U.S. teacher pay is between 65% and 70% of what an average year-round worker with a college education earns. By comparison, teachers across OECD countries earn between 73% and 90% of what full-time, year-round workers make. The report says that uncompetitive salaries will make it harder to attract the best candidates to the teaching profession, especially as the teaching workforce is aging.

 

In 2012, 23% of U.S. adults experienced upward education mobility (better educational attainment than their parents), while 54% achieved the same level of education as their parents — a positive outcome given that the United States also has one of the largest proportions of college-educated adults among OECD countries. However, a relatively high percentage of U.S. adults (23%) experienced downward education mobility (lower education level than the highest level achieved by parents) — compared to the average of 16% for the OECD.

 

“Lack of a quality education is the most powerful form of social exclusion. It prevents people from benefitting from economic growth and social progress,” said OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría at the launch of the report in Paris. “The dream of ‘quality education for all’ is not yet a reality.”

 

The report shows that more students have benefited from education than ever before: the percentage of 25-34 years olds with college-level education in the United States has risen from 42% in 2010 to 46% in 2014, which is above the OECD average of 41% in 2014.

 

The benefits of having a college education remain strong in the United States: compared with adults with only high school education, those with a college degree earn about 76% more in income, which considerably higher than the OECD average of 60%. The earnings premium is especially high for those with a master’s or doctoral or equivalent degree: in 2013, these adults earned 143% more than an individual with only high school education – the third highest premium among OECD countries with available data.

 

Meanwhile, only 3.9% of 25-34 year olds with college education were unemployed in the United States, compared to the OECD average of 7.5%.

 

The United States continues to be the global leader in the international college education market: the U.S. hosted 19% of all international students in 2013, the largest proportion among all OECD and partner countries. International students in the United States made up 3% of enrollments in bachelor’s or equivalent, 8% in master’s or equivalent and 32% in doctoral or equivalent programs.

This year’s edition of Education at a Glance also reveals the difficulties that governments face in financing education. The United States is among the six countries where expenditure per student in primary and secondary education decreased in real terms between 2008 and 2012, though the United States has the smallest decrease at less than 1%. At the college level, expenditure per student fell by 9% between 2008 and 2012 as the increase in total expenditure did not keep up with the even larger increase in the number of students enrolled.

Despite the decrease in total expenditure per student, expenditure on primary and secondary educational institutions as a percentage of GDP in 2012 was near the OECD average (3.6%; the OECD average was 3.7%). The United States also had the highest expenditure on college education as a share of GDP among OECD countries (2.8%; the OECD average was 1.5%).

Further information on Education at a Glance, including country notes, multilingual summaries and key data, is available at www.oecd.org/education/education-at-a-glance-19991487.htm.

For queries and interview requests, journalists are invited to contact Miguel Gorman (tel. +1 202-822-3865) in the OECD’s Washington Center.