labor market dashboard
Tracking the college wage premium via unemployment rates, straight from FRED. Recession shading is NBER (USREC); data fetched live on page load from fred.stlouisfed.org.
UNRATE = total civilian U-3 (16+). BA+ = bachelor's degree or higher. HS only = high school graduates, no college. Both education series are restricted to age 25 and over.
A positive number means non-college workers face higher unemployment than college workers. Historically positive throughout the series; spikes during recessions (the gap widens because HS-only workers are laid off first); narrows in tight labor markets.