教育被廣泛認為是提升個人經濟收入和社會地位的重要途徑。Becker（1964）指出教育投資的回報包括直接的工資增長，然而，教育對於收入增長的實際影響程度仍然存在爭議。不同國家、不同時期以及不同個體的教育報酬率有所差異。因此，探討教育對個人收入的影響具有重要的理論和實踐意義。
本研究資料來源為學術調查研究資料庫之行政院主計總處《人力運用調查》1978 至 2022 年，共 45 年原始據，進行深入分析，旨在探討教育年數對實質月收入的影響。數據涵蓋了 25 至 54 歲男性的教育年數、月收入、工時、婚姻狀況、行業、職業和地區等。研究方法採用多元迴歸分析各年群 (按出生年分群) 之教育年數等變數對月收入影響，和參考Deaton and Paxson (1994) 的分析架構，分離了年齡效果、年度效果和年群效果，以提供更為準確的估計。
研究結果顯示，教育年數對收入有顯著的正向影響，年齡效果 (Age effect) 顯示隨著年齡增長，教育報酬逐漸增加，年群效果 (Cohort effect) 顯示不同年群的教育報酬存在差異，較晚出生的年群教育報酬較高，年度效果 (Period effect) 顯示教育年數對收入的影響在不同年份間存在波動。

Education is widely regarded as an important means to enhance individual economic income and social status. Becker (1964) pointed out that the returns on educational investment include direct wage growth; however, the actual impact of education on income growth remains controversial. The rate of return on education varies across different countries, periods, and individuals. Therefore, exploring the impact of education on individual income holds significant theoretical and practical importance.
The source of this research is the " Manpower Utilization Survey " of the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics of the Survey Research Data Archive, from 1978 to 2022, a total of 45 years of original evidence, in-depth analysis, aiming to investigate the effect of years of education on real monthly income. The data covers educational years, monthly income, working hours, marital status, industry, occupation, and region for males aged 25 to 54. The research method employs multiple regression analysis to examine the impact of variables such as years of education on monthly income across different cohorts (Year of Birth). Additionally, the study references the analytical framework of Deaton and Paxson (1994) to separate the age effect, period effect, and cohort effect for more accurate estimates.
The results indicate that years of education have a significant positive impact on income. The age effect shows that educational returns increase with age. The cohort effect reveals differences in educational returns among different cohorts, with later-born cohorts having higher educational returns. The period effect indicates that the impact of years of education on income fluctuates across different years.

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