Examines the effect of vocational coursework on the labor market success of the High School and Beyond seniors who did not attend college full time. Students taking 4 full-year vocational courses and 8 full-year academic courses in their final 3 years earned substantially more immediately after graduating than students taking 12 academic courses.…

Effects of variations in the structure of targeted employment subsidy programs on the attainment of program objectives are explored in this paper. First, the objectives that underlie targeted subsidy programs are outlined in relation to individual program characteristics and the economics of such programs are discussed. Then the wide range of…

This paper addresses conflicting views on whether there is now or will soon be a surplus of college graduates and other skilled workers by analyzing data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Ten questions (and the answers reached) are addressed: (1) "Do the latest BLS projections of college graduate supply actually predict a bust--a…

A study focused on the appropriate balance between academic and vocational education for those who intend to work rather than attend college after graduation. Two hypotheses were tested: (1) a high school curriculum that completely specializes in vocational education and ignores basic skills training will not be as effective as the one that…

An analysis of the argument that a market imperfection (wage differentials and queuing caused by unions) raises the marginal social product (MSP) of college education above the average before-tax private wage premium (APP) for college (this discrepancy is called a union-Q-nality) focuses on verifying five hypotheses: (1) Workers with identical…

Employment tests predict job performance because they measure or are correlated with a large set of malleable developed abilities, which are causally related to productivity. Our economy currently under-rewards the achievements that are measured by these tests. Consequently, economic incentives to study hard in high school are minimal, and this…

A study compared different firms' methods of recognizing and rewarding employee performance and examined the impact of such recognition and reward on such factors as involuntary and voluntary labor turnover and worker productivity. Data from a survey of 3,412 employers that was sponsored by the National Institute of Education and the National…

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projections of occupational employment growth have consistently underpredicted the growth of skilled occupations. BLS currently predicts that professional, technical, and managerial jobs will account for 40.9 percent of employment growth between 1990 and 2005. Forecasting regressions predict these occupations…

This collection contains studies of two large-scale national survey databases that have rich information on on-the-job training. The following papers are included: "On-the-Job Training/Sorting: Theory and Evidence," by John Bishop and Suk Kang; "The Magnitude and Determinants of On-the-Job Training," by John Bishop; "Impacts of Training," by John…

Most other nations have a very different approach to measuring academic achievement at the end of high school and signaling that information to universities and other interested parties. In Australia, Denmark, England, Scotland, Finland, France, Ireland, the Netherlands, and many Canadian and German provinces, for example, high school exit…