A college graduate now makes about 1.8 times as much as a high-school graduate, up from about 1.4 times as much in 1979, according to the EPI data. That's mainly because the wages of high-school grads have tumbled. They earned an average of $16.20 per hour in 2013, down from $17.26 per hour in 1979, according to the EPI's inflation-adjusted numbers. read more