Over the last 18 years, Economic Policy Institute has closely tracked trends in teacher pay. Over these nearly two decades, a picture of increasingly alarming trends has emerged. Simply put, teachers are paid less (in weekly wages and total compensation) than their nonteacher college-educated counterparts, and the situation has worsened…

The Great Recession and its aftermath have had long-lasting effects on the employment prospects of young people entering the workforce after graduating from high school or college. Despite officially ending in June 2009, the recession has left millions of people unemployed for extended spells, with recent workforce entrants such as young graduates…

This third installment of "Hard Times" updates the previous analyses of college majors, unemployment, and earnings over the Great Recession. While there is wide variation by college majors, hard times have become better times for most college graduates, but the recovery is far from complete. Hard times are becoming better times for most…

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…

This study examines if the college wage premium favoring college graduates still exists. The NLSY-79 data is employed. The sample includes individuals who received their high school degree and college degree in 1980 and 1981. These individuals were followed until the year 2004. A cross sectional regression model was estimated for the years 1982,…

The Great Recession officially ended in June 2009. However, the labor market has made agonizingly slow progress toward a full recovery, and the slack that remains continues to be devastating for workers of all ages. The weak labor market has been, and continues to be, very tough on young workers. Though the labor market is headed in the right…

The unemployment rate dropped to 7.8 percent in September, falling below 8 percent for the first time since January 2009. Furthermore, the share of working-age Americans who are employed increased to 58.7 percent, the highest level since May 2010. Employers added 114,000 jobs last month, and an average of more than 145,000 over the past three…

In this report, the Graduate Management Admission Council[R] (GMAC[R]) presents the results from the 2011 Corporate Recruiters Survey. Conducted annually since 2001, this survey examines the job outlook for recent graduate business students as well as employer needs and expectations. The objectives of this study are to obtain a picture of the…

Though the labor market is slowly improving, the Great Recession that began in December 2007 was so long and severe that the crater it left in the labor market continues to be devastating for workers of all ages. Unemployment has been above eight percent for more than three years, and 12.7 million workers remain unemployed today. The weak labor…

The May employment numbers broke from the positive news of the last few months and revealed weakness in the job market. Not surprisingly to most Americans, these numbers indicate the job market remains tough--particularly for the nation's young adults. College seniors graduating this spring will enter a job market vastly different than the one…

Since the Graduate Management Admission Council[R] (GMAC[R]) first began conducting its Alumni Perspectives Surveys 11 years ago, several "truths" about graduate business school alumni have consistently stood the test of time: They are and remain eminently employable. They constantly rate the value of the degree highly. This year's results are…

Over the past several decades, the demand in California for college-educated workers has grown. But the supply of college graduates has not kept pace with demand, and it appears that this "workforce skills gap" will not only continue but widen. This study examines the causes, magnitude, and likely consequences of the potential mismatch…

Men's and women's quality of work in the new Canadian economy was examined. The two data sources used were the 2000 Changing Employment Relationships Survey (CERS), which consisted of telephone interviews of 2,500 currently employed Canadian residents aged 18 or older, and the 2000 General Social Survey (GSS), which examined access to and use of…

The different situations confronting young labor market entrants in different European countries may be described in terms of the following models: (1) the conditions of labor market entry are basically tied to the nature of the qualification acquired in initial training, experience accumulated in the labor market plays a very secondary role, and…

The current situation regarding training Massachusetts' workers for the new economy was reviewed. Special attention was paid to the following topics: Massachusetts and the skill-centered economy; opportunities for workforce system reform; skills demanded in the new economy; ways other states are building workers' skills; and the fragile setting…