Numerous degree programs throughout the UNC System equip students with the requisite knowledge and skills for meaningful careers that generate excellent returns for both alumni and the North Carolina economy. This talent pool attracts businesses and residents to the state, expanding job opportunities, further developing the labor force, and…

There is substantial variation in the returns to a college degree. One determinant is whether a worker's employment is "matched" with their education. With a novel education-industry crosswalk and panel data on 295,000 graduates, we provide the first estimates of an education-industry match premium leveraging within-person variation in…

As the cost of living continues to increase over time, many Americans are placing greater scrutiny on the financial choices they make. An area for such evaluation is if the outcomes of going to college continue to be worth the cost. One underrepresented group, first-generation college students (FGCS), is less likely than non-FGCS to attend and…

We use data from the Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study and propensity score weighting methods to estimate the effect of a double major on bachelor's degree recipients' earnings within four years after college graduation. We classify each of a student's two majors in a double major combination as either "higher- or…

Racialized individuals are generally more likely than their non-racialized and non-Indigenous counterparts to pursue a university-level education. Despite this, their labour market outcomes are often less favourable. Using data from the integrated file of the Postsecondary Student Information System, the 2016 Census and the T1 Family File, this…

Increasingly, undergraduates take more than 4 years to complete a baccalaureate, a situation widely perceived as a waste of time and money, for students, their families, and taxpayers. We first identify several phenomena that result in a longer time to degree and document the frequency of such delays. Then, using nationally representative data…

Education-job match is often associated with enhanced well-being and career satisfaction, although existing research suggests that arts college graduates are less likely to experience education-job match than graduates of other disciplines. As research also increasingly suggests that student loan debt may influence college graduates' access to…

We explore the impact of excess credits, defined as additional credit hours accumulated by students beyond the required number of hours, on labor market outcomes. We consider whether additional credits have any impact on the labor market outcomes of job mismatch and income. Data are taken from the Baccalaureate and Beyond (B&B) study, a…

This is an applied econometric analysis of labour market data for the United States. We study the impact of several factors on overflow of overeducated employees into various job categories. We use panel data regression analysis with fixed and random effects. We also use data visualisation to investigate the overeducation trends during 2002-2016…

This report looks at the education and work outcomes of a national sample of bachelor's degree recipients four years after they earned their degrees. The findings are based on data from the 2016/20 Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study (B&B:16/20). This summary report presents selected findings from the full report including enrollment…

In this study we investigate the educational attainment of the labour force in the United States. Our data analysis, based on Bureau of Labour Statistics data in more than 700 occupations, produced two important findings. First, we observed that the Overeducation Ratio (share of employees that are overeducated), which began to rise in the United…

Guided by a Geography of Opportunity framework and using Arc Geographic Information Systems (ArcGIS) mapping, we sought to explore how and to what extent California Community Colleges baccalaureate programs graduates' expected earnings are likely to meet the Self-Sufficiency Standard and afford fair market rent for the region in which they are…

This report examined school-to-work linkages among bachelor's degree holders in the state of Texas. Linkage is a measure of how closely connected college majors are to specific occupations in the labor market. Studying linkage is useful as the state works toward ensuring students complete postsecondary credentials with marketable skills. The study…

Traditionally, four-year bachelor's degree programs have been available only at universities. More recently, they have been offered at some community colleges--particularly in Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia. Using linked administrative postsecondary graduate and personal income tax data, this study finds that college bachelor's degree (CBD)…

This brief is the second in Baltimore Education Research Consortium's (BERC's) "Launching into Adulthood" series, which examines the trajectories of Baltimore graduates over six years. BERC established a partnership with Baltimore's Promise and the Maryland Longitudinal Data System, which has made it possible to examine both college and…