t, in most countries, pupils who have attended pre-primary education tend to perform better than those who have not. It also shows that longer pre-primary education, smaller pupil-to-teacher ratios and higher public expenditure per child all enhance the positive effects of pre-primary schooling.
New data also reveal the importance of a good education for social mobility and access to good, well-paid jobs. The earnings gap and employment rate between people with higher education and the less educated continued to rise during the global recession. A 25-64 year-old man with higher education earned 67% more in 2010 than one with upper secondary education, up from 58% in 2008. For women, the earnings premium grew to 59% in 2010 from 54% in 2008
The unemployment rate in 2010 was roughly one-third less for men with higher education than for men with upper secondary. For women, it was two-fifths less.
Countries gain long-term economic and social benefits from investing more in education, the report notes. On average, OECD countries receive a net return of over USD 100 000 in increased income tax and other savings for each man in higher education, almost 4 times their investment. For women the return is 2.5 times.
Well-educated people also live longer, are more likely to vote and have more supportive attitudes to equal rights for minorities, according to new data and analysis in this year’s edition.
Public and private spending on education continued to rise, even during the economic downturn. Between 2008 and 2009, total investment - by governments, enterprises and individuals - increased in 24 out of 31 OECD countries for which data are available. But while public spending on education as a percentage of total public expenditure remained at 13% on average across the OECD in both 2005 and 2009, it fell in 19 out of 32 countries over that period.
Private funding, mainly from households, represents on average 30% of total expenditure on tertiary education. This proportion ranges from less than 5% in Denmark, Finland and Norway, to more than 40% in Australia, Israel, Japan and the United States, and to over 70% in Chile, Korea and the United Kingdom.
The increasing costs of entry to higher education for many families may impede countries’ own goals of increasing educational attainment in their populations, warns the OECD.
Education at a Glance provides comparable national statistics about education for the 34 OECD member countries, as well as Argentina, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Russia, Saudi Arabia and South Africa.
This year’s report includes indicators on public and private spending on education, tuition fees, adult participation in education, class sizes, teacher salaries and decision-making powers of schools, and analysis of national exam systems and the criteria for attending tertiary education.
For comment only journalists are invited to contact Andreas Schleicher (tel. + 33 1 45 24 93 66) in the OECD’s Education Directorate. To get a copy of the report please send an email to firstname.lastname@example.org. The report is available to journalists on the OECD’s password-protected site.
Further information on Education at a Glance 2012, including country notes, key data and a new visualization tool to compare countries’ performance, is available at www.oecd.org/edu/eag2012.
A mobile-friendly version of the report, compatible with smartphones and tablets, is available at http://oe.cd/EAG2012
Country briefings are available for Australia, Brazil, Canada, European Union, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Portugal, Russian Federation, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom and the United States.
The OECD and visualizing.org have launched a data visualization competition around Education at a Glance 2012. The focus is on the economic costs and returns on education. Find out how to enter at http://visualizing.org/contests/oecd-education-challenge.