Dear Healthy Men: What’s the connection between education and health and how men are affected?
A: Great question. In broad terms, the more education someone has, the longer and healthier his or her life will be. The connection between the two is fairly intuitive, but it takes a few steps to get there. Here’s how it works:
The first two steps have to do with employment (or unemployment) and income. Those without a high school diploma are much more likely to be unemployed or underemployed—and earn a lot less—than those who’ve taken some college classes or received an undergraduate or graduate degree.
While the overall unemployment rate in the US is about 4%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, those with less than a high school diploma, have a 6.5% unemployment rate and earn an average of $520 per week. High school grads have a 4.6% unemployment rate and earn $712/week. Having some college under your belt lowers the unemployment rate to 4% and increases salary to $774/week; A bachelor’s degree takes unemployment down to 2.5% and boosts salaries to $1173/week; and a master’s degree drops the unemployment rate to 1.5% and raises the average weekly salary to $1836.
Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash
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