Cutting the high school dropout rate for the class of 2010 by 50% would have provided a big boost to the nation’s economy, generating $5.6 billion in additional spending and $2 billion in additional investment in an average year, according to an economic analysis by the Alliance for Excellent Education.
Census data show that, in 2008, a high school graduate earned an average of $10,200 more per year than a high school dropout. Thus, according to the analysis, if half of the 1.3 million U.S. students who dropped out of high school in 2010 had stayed to graduate, they would, as a group, have:
• earned $7.6 billion more in an average year compared to those without a diploma,
• boosted U.S. GDP by $9.6 billion by the midpoint of their careers, and
• spent $19 billion more to buy homes and $741 million annually to buy cars.
The additional economic activity generated would support 54,000 new jobs nationwide, according to the Alliance’s economic model.
