| dc.description |
The thesis compares education attainment levels and the returns of education investments of three native -born ethnic groups , Mexican Americans , non -Hispanic whites , and African Americans . Using two ordinary least square (OLS ) regression models and data from the 2000 5 % Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS ) , the analysis determines if lower levels of earnings and occupation prestige status among native -born Mexican Americans are the result of low levels of education or are attributed to lower returns on their education . The first model compares income earned across the ethnic groups while the second model compares occupational prestige status across the three groups . The study shows that Mexican Americans continue to have the highest levels of high school dropouts and as a whole continue to lag behind whites in education attainment especially among the higher levels of education beginning at the college degree level . However , the results from the multiple linear regression analyses provide a positive outlook for Mexican Americans who attain higher levels of education receiving comparable or greater returns on their human capital investments . First , the results suggest that any additional year (s ) of education attainment above a high school diploma provides greater returns for Mexican Americans given the anemic state of higher education levels for this ethnic group . Second , attaining a college degree has the greatest effect on labor market outcomes . Finally , the results do provide empirical evidence of structural discrimination especially in the case of African Americans with respect to income earned . In addition , at the professional degree attainment level whites receive greater returns in income despite having the same level of education and occupation prestige status when compared to Mexican Americans and African Americans . |
|