Does Education Really Help? Skill, Work, and Inequality

"The last three decades have brought disturbing news with regard to living standards and inequality in the United States. In response to these trends, a consensus formed in Washington that greater schooling and skill improvement would lead to higher wages and enhanced productivity in the workplace. Some believed that a more equal distribution of income would ensue from a more equal distribution of human capital. Others put their faith in the Information Technology revolution to re-ignite worker pay. Paradoxically, however, educational attainment and worker skills have risen as rapidly since the early 1970s as during the quarter century before; dispersion in schooling levels has plummeted more sharply, and computer investment has skyrocketed. This book analyzes the sources of these conundrums."--BOOK JACKET.