There are low participation rates and low literacy and numeracy gains for students in federally funded adult education programs, resulting in students not gaining the academic skills they need to improve their workforce employability. The purpose of this nonexperimental quantitative correlational study was to determine if U.S. jurisdiction characteristics or adult basic education participant demographics may be predictors of measurable skill gains. This study was a first step in addressing a gap in the literature to explain why some U.S. jurisdictions have higher measurable skill gains than others. The data were collected from archived federal government reports. Pearson's correlation, multiple linear regression, and multilevel regression analysis were used to analyze the predictive nature of the variables. The study's results revealed that U.S. jurisdiction characteristics, such as credential rates, adult basic education/secondary education enrollments (participants served), completion rates (participants exited), resident/population density, and jurisdiction head-of-government political party, were found to have positive and marginal predictive ability on the measurable skill gains. The study's results also revealed positive and marginal correlations between participant demographics related to various employment barriers when controlling for the economic covariates of employment Q4 rate, median earnings, credential rate. Implications and recommendations for best practices and further investigation into additional variables that impact measurable skills gains are recommended. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]