Children's Lifetime Income Reduced by 90 Million Won Due to COVID Learning Loss

Survey of US Elementary and Middle School Students... Total $28 Trillion Scale
Students' Lifetime Earnings Decrease by 5.6% During Pandemic
Korea Also Restricted School Attendance... "Learning Loss Is a Global Common"

An analysis has revealed that the lifetime earnings of U.S. elementary and secondary students who experienced learning loss due to the COVID-19 pandemic are expected to decrease by about $70,000 (approximately 90 million KRW).

According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on the 27th (local time), Stanford University economist Professor Eric Hanushek projected this after noting that the math scores of 8th graders (second year of middle school) in the 2019?2022 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) significantly dropped compared to pre-pandemic levels.

One week before the 2022 College Scholastic Ability Test, on November 11 last year, when remote classes began as a COVID-19 prevention measure at all high schools nationwide, a teacher at Jamsil High School in Seoul is conducting a remote class with students. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

Professor Hanushek stated that if the learning loss is not recovered, average-level students who went through elementary and secondary education during the pandemic will grow into adults with lower education and skill levels and reduced productivity, resulting in a 5.6% decrease in lifetime earnings compared to previous students.

He added that the income loss could amount to $70,000 per person and a total of $28 trillion (3,360 trillion KRW) nationwide for the remainder of this century, saying, "The economic cost of learning loss due to the pandemic will outweigh cyclical economic losses." In this year's NAEP, the average math score for 8th graders was 274 out of 500, down 8 points from 282 in 2019, just before the pandemic. This is the largest decline in NAEP's 32-year history and corresponds to a learning loss equivalent to missing 0.6 to 0.8 years of school.

Math scores declined in all 49 states except Utah. The largest drops by state were in Oklahoma, Delaware, and West Virginia, each with a 12-point decrease, while Idaho, Alabama, and Alaska saw smaller declines of 4 points. Daniel McGrew, acting deputy director of assessment at the U.S. National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), which administers the test, said the proportion of students lacking basic math skills increased from 31% before the pandemic to 38%.

Trends in 8th Grade Math Scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress in the United States
Photo by National Center for Education Statistics website, USA

Professor Hanushek explained that such score declines imply that lifetime earnings could decrease by 3% to 9%, depending on the state. This analysis aligns with research released last October by teams from Harvard University and Dartmouth College, which projected that if pandemic-related learning loss is not recovered, the lifetime earnings of average-level elementary and secondary students could decrease by 1.6%.

Kevin Dykema, president of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), cited the reason for the score decline as the remote learning during the pandemic, which relied more on memorization and imitation rather than deep conceptual understanding, leading to a decline in the quality of math education.

He said, "Students have become accustomed to sitting in front of computer screens," adding, "Students are taking longer to learn concepts this year, need more tutoring, and are struggling to participate in group activities." Learning loss among students during the pandemic is a global phenomenon, raising concerns that its side effects could have permanent impacts on the affected students.

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) reported in December last year that among 2 billion school-age children worldwide, 1.6 billion experienced significant loss of instructional time during the pandemic.

South Korea also imposed school attendance restrictions for about one and a half years during 2020?2021 when COVID-19 spread. Notably, South Korea is considered one of the countries with the most extensive school attendance restrictions worldwide. In 2020, the full attendance rate was only 6.2%. This is the lowest attendance rate among Asia-Pacific countries classified as high-income by the World Bank.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.