Vocational High Schools are designed to prepare students to enter the workforce, so that the graduates' absorption, waiting periods and the first salaries become the indicator of effectiveness. However, the Central Statistics Agency's data shows that the open unemployment for Vocational High Schools graduates is very high and exceeds the Senior…

This report provides current and historical labor force information about young people ages 16 to 24. In general, youth have a lower rate of labor force participation, and those who are in the labor force are less likely to gain employment than older workers. On the labor supply side, young people are making greater investments in education by…

In the United States, we tend to assume that young people should become educated and then go to work, as though the two were entirely separate stages of life. This dichotomy blinds us to the fact that work itself can be a powerful means of education-giving students opportunities to apply academic subject matter to real-world problems, and pushing…

For young people in the United States, whatever their backgrounds, one of the essential purposes of schooling should be to help them develop the knowledge, skills, and competence needed to search for and obtain work that they find at least reasonably satisfying. Our present educational system does precious little to introduce young people to the…

In the United States, we tend to assume that young people should become educated and then go to work, as though the two were entirely separate stages of life. This dichotomy blinds us to the fact that work itself can be a powerful means of education. Indeed, the workplace is where many young people become most engaged in learning high-level skills…

In today's job market, middle and high skills jobs--jobs that require some education and training beyond high school--comprise the majority of job openings and typically provide the best wages and opportunities for advancement. And almost every day, there is an article or news story discussing the "skills mismatch" phenomenon, the…

This report is Iowa's response to the four questions that the United States Department of Education, Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education (OCTAE), requires of all states and territories receiving federal funding through the Workforce Investment Act (WIA), Title II, Adult Education and Family Literacy Act (AEFLA). The overall goal of…

In this paper, I use a nationally representative sample of American high school seniors in 1992 to examine change and stability in the employment patterns of youth as they make the transition from high school to college. Students with weak attachments to the labor force in high school tend to remain unemployed during the first year of college.…

Is the United States getting it wrong when it comes to educating tomorrow's innovators in critical fields? It has been known for years that the only way to compete globally in information technology, engineering, nanotechnology, robotics and other fields is to give students the best educational opportunities possible. But do individuals have a…

In the last decade, there has been a greater demand for high skills to match jobs in the new economy. Are youth changing the time spent in schooling and work? Are youth studying longer? Are they working earlier? Are they combining work and studying? Are they training more? And finally, did the changes come at a price? Using the General Social…