This report examines factors that are associated with the labor force participation behavior of working-age men and women in the United States with a focus on the connection between labor force participation and human capital skills and educational attainment. The analysis reveals very different patterns of labor force attachment for American men…

Vietnam's economy and education system have had remarkable success in recent decades, yet there are concerns about the declining returns to higher education since 2008. We document this decline in returns to higher education and propose four hypotheses to explain it. Analysis of the VLSS/VHLSS and LFS data provides little evidence for three of…

Recent research describes a gap between the workforce skills employers need and the skills college graduates bring to the workforce. Making strides toward closing the workforce skills gap means that institutions, employers, and students must work together to cultivate a shared understanding of how strategic collaboration and communication are…

The purpose of this quantitative study is to test the relationship between degree choice and post-graduate outcomes for students in the United States by describing the relationship between a selected major and post-graduate outcomes including employment sector, salary for women and men. As college costs rise, and enrollments fall for the first…

This yearlong qualitative research project examined the perspectives, experiences, and expertise of academic leaders, program directors, and faculty in tying learning outcomes to workforce skills at a variety of public and private two-year and four-year institutions across the United States. This research centered on students' workforce skills…

Purpose: The pandemic COVID-19 brought in large challenges globally among the workforce. There were reports of how employee layoffs and pay-cuts were gradually becoming prominent across industries based on media reports. However, there were no attempts to develop a typology of challenges faced by the workforce. Design/methodology/approach: This…

Several federal agencies, including the Small Business Administration (SBA), provide training and other assistance to veterans seeking civilian employment. In recent years, the unemployment rate among veterans as a whole has generally been similar to or lower than the unemployment rate for nonveterans 18 years and older. However, veterans who have…

Rural America has long been perceived as "left behind" by policies that leave it struggling while benefiting bustling urban cities and suburbs. That narrative holds some truth: rural America has a declining population, along with lower educational attainment and lower workforce participation than urban America. But while rural America…

The Council on Postsecondary Education (Council) is charged with guiding the reform efforts envisioned by state policy leaders in the Kentucky Postsecondary Education Improvement Act of 1997 and is Kentucky's statewide postsecondary and adult education coordinating agency. To gain better insight into economic conditions and workforce trends,…

Vocational High Schools are designed to prepare students to enter the workforce, so that the graduates' absorption, waiting periods and the first salaries become the indicator of effectiveness. However, the Central Statistics Agency's data shows that the open unemployment for Vocational High Schools graduates is very high and exceeds the Senior…

This report presents state- and county-level data for the Appalachian Region. The 12 chapters focus on: (1) Population Basics; (2) Age; (3) Race and Hispanic Origin; (4) Housing Occupancy, Tenure, and Type; (5) Education, Device Ownership, and Internet Access; (6) Labor Force, Employment, and Unemployment; (7) Transportation and Commuting…

An estimated 339,000 workers were employed in foodservice operations in the nation's elementary and secondary schools. While news stories often focus on so-called "lunch ladies," the school foodservice workforce encompasses employees ranging from front-line cafeteria workers to chefs and food preparation staff to administrators and…

Enacted in 2014, the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) was designed to increase collaboration among workforce systems at the federal, state, and local levels to integrate the array of programs and services available to job seekers and businesses through American Job Centers (AJCs). WIOA requires the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) to…