Despite decades and hundreds of billions of dollars of federal and state investment in policies to promote postsecondary educational attainment as a key lever for increasing the economic mobility of lower income populations, research continues to show large and meaningful differences in the mid-career earnings of students from families in the…

This report examines the growing interest in expanding access to postsecondary education through non-degree certificate programs and associate degree programs. This policy report seeks to better understand the implications of these trends by analyzing employment experiences and earnings outcomes of individuals whose highest level of educational…

We use the near universe of U.S. online job ads to document four new facts about the skills employers demand from college majors. First, some skills--social and organizational--are demanded from all majors whereas others--financial and customer service--are demanded from only particular majors. Second, some majors have skill demand profiles that…

This paper studies the causal impacts of public universities on the outcomes of their marginally admitted students. I use administrative admission records spanning all 35 public universities in Texas, which collectively enroll 10 percent of American public university students, to systematically identify and employ decentralized cutoffs in SAT/ACT…

We survey undergraduate students at a large public university to understand the pecuniary and non-pecuniary factors driving their college major and career decisions with a focus on K-12 teaching. While the average student reports there is a 6% chance they will pursue teaching, almost 27% report a nonzero chance of working as a teacher in the…

Using data collected from more than 5.8 million high school and college graduates ages 18 to 65 years who participated in the American Community Survey between 2009 and 2021, the authors estimate the internal rates of return (IRRs) for individuals with college degrees in 10 broad majors compared with high school graduates. The analysis shows…

The author of this article provides an example of how one might incorporate behavioral economics into teaching macroeconomics or labor economics at an undergraduate level. The focus is on two macroeconomic concepts--wage determination and the Phillips curve--and shows that the implications and conclusions of both models differ from their textbook…

Background: The landscape of education is increasingly recognizing the impactful role of Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs in preparing students for the workforce. In Delaware, the implementation of CTE programs has been substantial, offering students opportunities to earn college credits, attain industry certifications, and gain…

The COVID-19 pandemic has heightened the visibility of economic inequality and the inadequacy of current minimum wage laws in the United States. Changes in the minimum wage, a living wage, or just employment practices may be compelled by law or voluntarily enacted by employers. A literature search failed to yield a concise and practical tool to…

Research estimating the outcomes of higher education in Germany has widely ignored the private educational sector. This study focuses on labour market returns in terms of the income of graduates from private higher education institutions in Germany. Using data from the National Education Panel Study (NEPS) the results of the Bayesian regression…

Manufacturing employers often cite challenges to finding and hiring a sufficient number of highly skilled and diverse workers, so it is important to understand how pathways into manufacturing and the retention of manufacturing workers may be improved. The authors of this report address this research gap by examining the pipeline between Ohio's…

When examining career pathways, post-secondary institutions such as community colleges align education and training to career success, aiming to connect students to gainful employment. Career pathways support the skill needs of industries and incorporate competencies in an occupation or field represented by certificates and degrees awarded by the…

When workers hear about a possible promotion, it is common for them to get training, and they can do so through education. However, there is the possibility that the worker needs to receive a salary according to the knowledge acquired in such training. In this study, considering a population of employed workers with incomplete secondary school, we…

The study is devoted to the evaluation of the determinants of job-education mismatches and their impact on salaries of university graduates. We use a comprehensive and nationally representative survey of Russian university graduates. The study employs a self-evaluated measure of mismatch and a statistical variant for robustness and interpretation…

Recent years have seen accelerating interest in measuring the employment outcomes of recent college graduates. New data tools and research, such as the College Scorecard, increasingly sophisticated state-level data systems, and studies investigating students' long-term economic mobility, continue to roll out. While postgraduate wages have been an…