Communities strive to grow economically to improve the quality of life of their citizens. Community colleges have long been a key driver of local economic development through education and workforce development programs. Over the past few decades, community colleges have increased their involvement in economic development activities beyond their…

In this paper, we employ a comparative life course approach for Canada and Germany to unravel the relationships among general and vocational educational attainment and different life course activities, with a focus on labour market and income inequality by gender. Life course theory and related concepts of 'time,' 'normative patterns,' 'order and…

This Perspective summarizes recent trends in young peoples' entrance into and completion of postsecondary educational programs. Education is an important pathway into well-paying jobs and the American middle class. Education levels have been rising for the past 50 years, including large gains for many demographic groups. But declining public…

Better-educated workers form many more long-distance job matches, and they move more quickly following local employment shocks. I argue this is a consequence of larger dispersion in wage offers, independent of geography. In a frictional market, this generates larger surpluses for workers in new matches, which can better justify the cost of moving…

"Education at a Glance" is the authoritative source for information on the state of education around the world. It provides data on the structure, finances and performance of education systems across OECD countries and a number of accession and partner countries. More than 100 charts and tables in this publication -- as well as links to…

This study investigates the role of college major choices in labor market outcomes, with a focus on racial minorities and immigrants. Drawing upon research on school-to-work linkages, we examine two measures, linkage, the connection between college majors and specific occupations in the labor market, and match, the alignment of workers'…

Secondary analysis of the UK's 2011/12 Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education survey reveals that many existing assumptions about graduate internships are questionable. This article proposes a reliable way of estimating the true extent of internships including those reported as 'voluntary' jobs: hidden internships. In doing so the article…

Academic support services such as coaching and mentoring programs have shown the most promise, but only when they are implemented in a very proactive manner--when they provide students with personalized follow-up and attention. Unfortunately, these programs are often expensive, making them hard to implement or scale at a regional or national…

A postsecondary degree is widely promoted as a great intergenerational economic equalizer for individuals born into disadvantaged economic circumstances. Yet, there is little empirical evidence documenting the extent that this may be true and whether people from all racial and ethnic, and language backgrounds are benefitting equally. We provide a…

To ensure that students are prepared for the workforce, part of Maryland State Department of Education's (MSDE) vision for career and technical education (CTE) is for all students to have access and opportunities to engage in CTE programs of study that align to occupations that are high-wage, high-skill, and/or in-demand (MSDE, 2020). MSDE's…

According to a prominent hypothesis, the occurrence of educational mismatches is consistent with human capital theory since over- and undereducation are substitutes for heterogeneity in the abilities and skills among educational peers. Using German data[superscript 1] of literacy and numeracy test scores, I find evidence that compared to their…

The earnings advantages to adults with more schooling are well-documented. High school graduates typically have higher earnings than high school dropouts, and those with a bachelor's degree have higher earnings than both groups. Furthermore, as the job content of the nation's economy has shifted in a way that generally favors those with more…

This dissertation examines the impact of state educational programs on the economics of education and labor, focusing on the New York State (NYS) STEM Incentive Program and China's tuition-free policy for vocational secondary education (VSE). The first two Chapters analyze the effects of the NYS STEM Incentive Program, an initiative implemented in…

For decades, the federal government has expected vocationally focused programs in higher education, especially among for-profit colleges, to lead to gainful employment in a profession. In the mid-2010s, the U.S. Department of Education developed gainful employment (GE) regulations that sought to tie a program's federal financial aid eligibility to…

Relying on data for Belgian graduates, we investigate the relationship between motives to participate in higher education (investment, educational consumption, student life consumption and social norms) and overeducation after graduation. We also examine whether these motives affect the relationship between overeducation and other outcomes like…