In this report, we present the results of a thought experiment in which we estimated the potential costs and benefits to society of achieving equality in educational attainment and related workforce outcomes by race/ethnicity, class, and gender. We conducted this thought experiment to clarify the role that education can play in reducing…

Many Americans would agree that all people should have equal educational opportunity and equal pay for equal work. And yet, inequality in postsecondary education access, college completion, and post-college outcomes such as wages stubbornly persists, along with the impression that achieving equal outcomes would be too expensive and would take too…

This report analyzed five databases to get a full picture of the different aspects and traits of Latinos in the workforce: (1) the Current Population Survey (CPS); (2) The American Community Survey (ACS); (3) the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS); (4) the Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (BPS); and (5) the…

This executive summary highlights findings presented in the full report, "Latino Education and Economic Progress: Running Faster but Still Behind." The report reveals that Latinos have a long way to go in achieving educational and economic equality. Latinos' rates of high school graduation are improving, but they are still last compared…

This report uses statistics to examine current conditions and changes over time in education activities and outcomes for different racial/ethnic groups in the United States. This report shows that over time, students in the racial/ethnic groups of White, Black, Hispanic, Asian, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, American Indian/Alaska…

In an effort to document the secondary school experiences and postsecondary outcomes of students with disabilities over the last two decades, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) sponsored two longitudinal research studies 15 years apart. The first study, the National Longitudinal Transition Study (NLTS) generated nationally representative…

A study was made of the impact of Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) Title II-A on the earnings and employment of four target groups (adult women and men and female and male out-of-school youth) over the first 18 months after random assignment to a treatment group that had access to the program or a control group, which did not. The study…

A project studied the early labor market experiences of the high school graduates of the class of 1980 who attended proprietary schools. The analysis was based on the "High School and Beyond" survey that followed that class through January 1986. About 9 percent of the 1980 seniors attended proprietary schools, and more than half of them…

The National Commission for Employment Policy has examined ways that the United States federal government could improve the economic situation of disadvantaged women. In particular, the Commission examined, during 1980, the role of education and employment and training programs in helping women to prepare for better paying occupations, and then…

By the time today's eighth graders reach age 28-29, approximately 66% will have had some kind of postsecondary education or training. There has been a dramatic upward shift in the education and skill requirements for all occupations. Access to higher education has become the threshold for career success. Elite managerial and professional jobs,…