Reconciling the Old and New Census Bureau Education Questions : Recommendations for Researchers

Beginning with the 1990 Census and the January 1992 Current Population Survey, the Bureau of the Census changed the emphasis of its educational attainment question from years of education to degree receipt. Using a matched sample from the 1991 and 1992 March CPS, this paper addresses how to reconcile the old and new questions. The effects of those methods on the estimated return(s) to education are then examined. Both the estimated linear return and the estimated college-high school wage differential are slightly larger using information from the new question