The United States and Pennsylvania economies are at a pivot point: Will we build forward better or will we build back the same? Will we make things even worse? This report revisits the policy choices that lie ahead. Most of this annual checkup on the Pennsylvania economy, the 26th "State of Working Pennsylvania," presents labor market…

NCD conducted a comprehensive analysis of the AbilityOne Program to determine whether it promotes Congress' goal of improving employment opportunities for people who are blind or have significant disabilities. Today, the program is made of a government-appointed Commission and staff, three central nonprofit agencies (CNAs) that facilitate the…

Administrative data on employment and earnings, commonly referred to as wage data or wage records, can be used to assess the labor market outcomes of workforce, education, and other programs, providing policymakers, administrators, researchers, and the public with valuable information. However, there is no single readily accessible federal source…

With grant and scholarship aid as well as family resources unable to keep pace with college costs, loans have become a fact of life for millions of college students each year. In deciding how and how much to borrow, these students are making highly consequential decisions that will impact their future in unknown ways. Policy should aim to reduce…

The Certification Data Exchange Project (CDEP) was launched in 2012 to provide a model for sharing industry-recognized credential attainment data. Increasingly, employers and education leaders are recognizing the value of industry credentials to verify the knowledge, skills and abilities that students bring to the workforce. As states take steps…

This report examines how technology and automation are changing the job market -- and what states can do to prepare adults for the new workplace. It analyzes shifts from low- to middle-skills jobs, details current education levels, and offers recommendations for retooling adult education programs.

This document provides an analysis of key themes, as they relate to the U.S. Latino population, included in the President's 2016 State of the Union Address. Addressing these issues is critical to extend opportunity to more people to help ensure national prosperity and security for generations to come.

This is an update to the report "Deeper in Debt: Women and Student Loans." Americans today carry $1.54 trillion in student loan debt. That number has more than doubled over the last decade--increasing at nearly six times the rate of inflation. Women are particularly burdened, holding nearly two-thirds of all outstanding loans--around…

Enactment of the "Every Student Succeeds Act" (ESSA) in 2015 introduced opportunities to use federal funds to strengthen the early childhood education and care (ECEC) workforce as a means of better meeting the needs of the growing and increasingly diverse young child population. Children under the age of 5 who have at least one parent or…

This paper examines the effects of introducing compulsory attendance laws on the schooling of U.S. children for three overlapping time periods: 1880-1927, 1890-1927, and 1898-1927. The previous literature finds little effect of the laws, which is somewhat surprising given that the passage of these laws coincided with rising attendance. Using…

Over the course of the past few decades student loans have become an increasingly common means of paying for a college education. Most students who complete a college program now take on student loans, and the amount of student debt that students assume has increased along with the price of attending college. At this time about 44 million…

Income taxes distort the relationship between wages and nontaxable amenities. When the marginal tax rate increases, amenities become more valuable as the compensating differential for low-amenity jobs is taxed away. While there is evidence that the provision of amenities responds to taxes, the literature has ignored the consequences for job…

This document provides a summary of and recommendations from the larger report, "Deeper in Debt: Women and Student Loans" (ED580345). Over the course of the past few decades student loans have become an increasingly common means of paying for a college education. Most students who complete a college program now take on student loans, and…

While nearly 85 percent of the U.S. population is currently made up of immigrants and their descendants, some groups were specifically targeted for exclusion and deliberately expelled. The Chinese were the first to experience this. In the 1850s, many Chinese who came to this land to search for gold or to help build the transcontinental railroad,…

The "Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006 (Perkins IV)" continues a longstanding federal investment in career and technical education (CTE) through grants to states and subgrants to local entities such as local education agencies (LEAs) and institutions of higher education (IHEs). As the fourth reauthorization of a…