In today’s knowledge-based economy, what you earn depends on what you learn. Jobs in the information technology sector, for example, pay 85 percent more than the private sector average.

Clinton links individual economic prospects to education and skills acquisition, framing the late-20th-century U.S. economy as “knowledge-based,” where human capital is the key driver of wages. The line “what you earn depends on what you learn” compresses a policy argument into a memorable maxim: public investment in education, training, and digital literacy is not merely social spending but economic strategy. By citing an “information technology sector” wage premium, he underscores the labor-market payoff of technical skills and positions IT as emblematic of higher-productivity work. The quote also implies a warning: workers and communities that cannot access learning opportunities risk being left behind as the economy shifts toward information and technology-intensive industries.