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The paper introduces the history and politics of value formation at historically Black colleges/universities (HBCUs) and focuses on how cultural-institutional values associated with Black and minority servingness--such as Black empowerment, ethics of care, and community service--impact the work of educators to coordinate internship opportunities for students. Drawing on interviews with educators at six HBCUs (n=27), this paper documents how such cultural-institutional values impact educational labor by being manifested in institutional discourse, supported through provision of institutional resources, embodied through institutional practices, and measured and assessed though institutional regimes of accountability. Educators work to expand students' access to the market by courting employers to establish networks for internships, and at the same time, work to promote the good reputation of the HBCU by selecting and triaging students who will represent the institution well, by socializing particular social skills, work norms, and dispositions of respectability, and by sociocultural matching of student and employer. This approach creates and expands the internship market for HBCU students; provides students with extra care, advice, and anticipatory socialization for the internship; and matches the student with an employer who may be particularly amenable to supporting the student's development. The paper proposes a value theory of educational labor that highlights and clarifies how cultural-institutional values constitute a specific context that motivates educators' work to serve their students in particular culturally informed ways.

Professional societies (ProSs) are instrumental in shaping science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) cultural norms. Existing legacy structures designed to serve majority groups and constructed in service of dominant norms and values present a clear obstacle to attracting, retaining, and serving minoritized STEM professionals, such as women, particularly women with additional intersecting marginalized statuses (Solebello et al., 2016). In this perspective article, we in the Amplifying the Alliance to Catalyze Change for Equity in STEM Success project, known as ACCESS+, explain our development of an adapted diversity, equity, and inclusion assessment tool. ACCESS+ is an NSF ADVANCE Partnership that is adapting a pre-existing tool known as the Diversity and Inclusion Progression Framework, which was developed in the United Kingdom jointly by the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Science Council (2021). As with the original version, the purpose of the U.S. adaptation--the Equity Environmental Scanning Tool, or EEST--is to provide STEM ProSs with a way to benchmark their diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, discern areas of organizational strength, and identify foci for organizational remediation. In this piece, we share background information for EEST refinement, including content adaptations and structural changes.

This paper estimates private and social returns to investment in education in Azerbaijan, using the 2015 Azerbaijan Monitoring Survey for Social Welfare. The private rate of return to education is 6 percent; this is the first estimate of returns to schooling in Azerbaijan since 1995. The returns to schooling are 6 percent for men and 8 percent for women, even controlling for selection. In addition, the paper estimates the returns for higher education; for this level, the rate of return is 9 percent. Finally, using the full discount method, the private rate of return to tertiary education is 9 percent, and the social rate of return is 8 percent. One policy implication is to re-examine the funding of higher education and for its expansion. [This paper is a product of the Education Global Practice.]

Many developing countries use employment guarantee programs to combat poverty. This paper examines the consequences of such employment guarantee programs for the human capital accumulation of children. It exploits the phased roll-out of India's flagship Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA) to study the effects on enrollment in schools and child labor. Introduction of MGNREGA results in lower relative school enrollment in treated districts. The authors find that the drop in enrollment is driven by primary school children. Children in higher grades are just as likely to attend school under MGNREGA, but their school performance deteriorates. Using nationally representative employment data, they find evidence indicating an increase in child labor highlighting the unintentional perverse effects of the employment guarantee schemes for Human capital.

This study compares the differences in the mismatch between the education and occupations of immigrants in Canada and the United States, operationalized by over-education. It further explores how the cross-country differences may be related to the supply of and demand for university-educated immigrants and the way they are selected. Using comparable data and three measures of over-education, this study found that university-educated recent immigrants in Canada were much more likely to be overeducated than their U.S. peers. The over-education rate gap between recent immigrants and the native-born was much more pronounced in Canada than in the United States. In addition, while labour market demand was associated with a lower level of over-education in both countries, a greater supply of university-educated recent immigrants was positively associated with a likelihood of over-education among recent immigrants in Canada, but not in the United States. Furthermore, in Canada, the over-education rate was significantly lower among immigrants who were admitted through some form of employer selection (e.g., immigrants who worked in skilled jobs in Canada before immigration) than those who were admitted directly from abroad. Overall, this study provides insight into how the immigration system interacts with broader aspects of the labour market to shape the labour market outcomes of immigrants.

Since the introduction of workplace computers in the 1970s, policymakers have been racing to outpace the workforce demands of the information age. To address concerns, policymakers have promoted an expansion of skills training to help workers keep up in the changing economy. Because the way people learn, work, and live is transforming, so should public policy. For these reasons, the time is now to boldly reimagine a workforce system that ensures equitable employment outcomes, not just matching skills with any job. This report calls for a workforce redesign and proposes building a new future-proof Workforce Equity Trust Fund (WETF) that will enshrine fundamental workforce protections into law. Specifically, this report offers four policy pillars to help frame and support building a new workforce equity system: (1) Broaden the share of economic risks by requiring employers of a certain size to pay into the WETF; (2) Make standard and portable a suite of wraparound services and employment benefits for every worker through the WETF; (3) Improve workforce analytics by creating an accountability dashboard for multiple measures of job quality; and (4) Govern the WETF by a multi-stakeholder partnership comprising business, labor, and the public. This report provides the theoretical framing for placing equity concerns at the center of policymaking in workforce development. It also offers the conceptual underpinnings necessary to replace the norms that currently govern workforce development with a corresponding set of equity-focused policy and performance indicators.

The number of temporary residents that hold a postsecondary study permit in Canada has increased rapidly in recent years, going from 201,186 in 2009 to 294,020 in 2015--a 46.1% increase. The purpose of this study is to describe the postsecondary experience and early labour market outcomes of study permit holders (international students). The study found that about two-thirds of postsecondary study permit holders actually enrolled in postsecondary programs in 2015 (up from about half in 2009). International students were somewhat more likely to graduate from their postsecondary program than Canadian students within five years of initial registration. However, international postsecondary students were less likely than Canadian students to combine school and work. Furthermore, only about one-third of international students who graduated from a postsecondary program remained and worked in Canada six years after graduation. Among those who remained and worked in the country after graduation, former international students earned slightly more than Canadian students (and slightly less than permanent residents). However, international students generally possess more characteristics associated with higher earnings than Canadian students. When international and Canadian students with similar demographics, educational qualifications and pre-graduation work experience were compared, it was shown that international students earned less than Canadian students six years after graduation.

Despite the widespread popularity of entrepreneurship education, there is thin evidence on its effectiveness in improving employment outcomes over the medium to long term. A potential time lag between entrepreneurial intentions and actions is sometimes presented as a reason why employment impacts are rarely observed. Based on a randomized control trial among university students in Tunisia, this paper studies the medium-term impacts of entrepreneurship education four years after students' graduation. The paper complements earlier evidence that documented small, short-term impacts on entry into self-employment and aspirations toward the future one year after graduation. The medium-term results show that the impacts of entrepreneurship education were short-lived. There are no sustained impacts on self-employment or employment outcomes four years after graduation. There are no lasting effects on latent entrepreneurship either, and the short-term increase in optimism also receded. [This paper is a product of the Social Protection and Jobs Global Practice.]

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act waived work requirements nationally in 2010 and broadened waiver eligibility in subsequent years for Able-Bodied Adults without Dependents (ABAWDs) receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits. From 2011 to 2017, many states voluntarily imposed work requirements, while other areas became ineligible for waivers because of improved economic conditions. Using data from the American Community Survey from 2010 to 2017, I analyze the influence of work requirements on employment and SNAP participation for ABAWDs. I find that work requirements increased employment for ABAWDs and also significantly decreased SNAP participation.

Do tuition vouchers and cash subsidies promote educational or labor force outcomes for "non-traditional" students? I use a regression discontinuity design to estimate the impacts of a state aid program with an unobserved eligibility cutoff. Eligibility has no impact on degree completion for students with a preference for community colleges or four-year colleges but increases bachelor's degrees for students interested in for-profit colleges by four percentage points. I find no impact on employment or earnings for all applicants. This research highlights challenges in promoting human capital investment for adults.

This paper presents a new approach to the identification of relatively skilled occupations that do not typically require a bachelor's degree for entry. I call this group of occupations Skilled Non-College Occupations (SNCOs). The proposed approach relies heavily on a new skills index based on data from the Occupational Information Network (O*NET) sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor. In contrast with studies that estimate that employment in so-called middle-skill jobs in the U.S. represents one third to nearly a half of total employment, this study estimates that the combined employment of SNCOs accounted for 16.2% of all jobs in 2016. Exploratory analysis shows that SNCOs (a) represent only one in five jobs that do not require a 4-year college degree for entry; (b) encompass a wide variety of occupations and industries, even though they are highly concentrated in a relatively small number of them; (c) usually pay above-average wages; (d) show a quite low correlation between wages and the skills scores; and (e) include a significant proportion of workers who are potentially underemployed in terms of their level of educational attainment.

When planning for college, students face a range of constrained choices governed in part by variation among institutions. What are the economic consequences of those decisions and constraints during and after college? We know borrowing patterns vary by institutional sector, yet colleges within a sector vary considerably by admission and graduation rates, returns to degrees, and costs for students. Using data from the Beginning Postsecondary Students and Baccalaureate and Beyond studies, we evaluate undergraduate student loan debt and labor market outcomes differentiated by institutional sector and competitiveness. First, we corroborate previous research finding that recent growth in educational debt is mainly confined to the top fifth of borrowers. Second, we find that the sector and selectivity of institutions predict both graduation rates and higher borrowing. In-state public institutions provide a haven from high debt relative to public out-of-state and less competitive private colleges. Finally, we find this differential risk of exposure to high borrowing is what matters for labor market outcomes of graduates from less-competitive institutions. Once these students enter the top fifth of borrowing, early labor market experiences have more influence than what kind of college students attend.

This paper examines evidence from the HESA DLHE six-month Censuses and 3½ year ('longitudinal') surveys relating to three aspects of the flows of those who have left university with Higher Education Engineering qualifications, to test the robustness of the conclusions of SKOPE Research Paper No. 122 (Dixon, 2015), which showed strong evidence that most Engineering graduates do not go on to work in the sectors of the economy that might be expected, in particular in the 'natural' Manufacturing sub-sector. Specifically, the paper examines three questions: (1) whether evidence of starting salary levels for those from particular disciplines going into particular sectors could explain the relative flows (on the assumption that higher salaries for graduate vacancies in a particular sector would attract more applications); (2) whether evidence of sector destinations three years on from the (six-month after graduation) Census data analysed in Dixon (2015) would show up significantly different levels of 'leakage'; and (3) whether those entering employment having completed Taught Masters (as opposed to First Degree) courses in particular Engineering disciplines would tend (in the light of their apparent greater interest and deeper understanding in the specific discipline) to enter the "expected" sectors more than their Bachelors colleagues. The "bottom line" answers to these questions is that -- with rather minor exceptions -- none of the relevant broader evidence from HESA DLHE data over a ten-year period significantly questions the very considerable 'leakage', away from the 'natural' Manufacturing sub-sector, that was found and presented in Dixon (2015). (1) There is "some" correlation between the "average salaries offered" (by employers in each 'destination' sector to cohorts from each Engineering discipline examined) and the "size of the flows" from each discipline into each sector, but it is limited and rarely strong. While there might be reasons why average salary differences might not be large enough to provide a sufficient incentive for Engineering graduates to choose one sector over another, evidence of considerably greater correlation would have been helpful to justify the traditional response of classical economics to employers' concerns about shortages: "offer more money"! (2) While there are sample size issues constraining the statistical precision of comparisons between the two DLHE surveys, these have been addressed, and comparisons of the "linear flows" of graduates from each discipline into the natural Manufacturing sub-sector show (a) comparatively very small differences, and (b) on balance, slightly "greater" 'leakage' three years on; and (3) More MSc's in "Automotive" and "Aerospace Engineering" have, over the ten years examined, then gone into the "Manufacture of Motor Vehicles"... and "Air and Space craft manufacture" (respectively) than BEng's from these disciplines. However, for the other disciplines compared, there is little difference, and -- in terms of entry into Manufacturing as a whole, for the most recent year in the period - the fraction of the disciplinary cohorts entering "any type of Manufacturing" is slightly "higher" for MSc's than First Degree (FD) graduates in "three" Engineering disciplines, though "lower" for MSc's than FD's in "four"! This new evidence, therefore, only serves to "strengthen" the great importance of NOT assuming linear flows of Engineering graduates into the "natural" Manufacturing sub-sectors corresponding to their discipline, in particular in policy responses to reports of shortages from such sub-sectors.

Although many studies have investigated links between maternal employment and children's wellbeing, less research has considered whether the stability of maternal employment is linked with child outcomes. Using unique employment calendar data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N=2,011), an urban birth cohort study of largely low-income families, this paper investigates whether the stability of maternal employment in early childhood (birth to age 5) is linked with child behavior and cognitive skills at ages 5 and 9. Employment stability (continuous employment over all 5 years, low levels of job churning, longer job tenure) was linked with less child externalizing behavior, but there was little evidence to suggest stability was particularly important for PPVT [Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test] and Woodcock-Johnson scores. Rather, for PPVT and Woodcock-Johnson scores, an increase in maternal employment in early childhood more generally was associated with higher scores.

This study examines the relationship between occupational skill requirements and educational attainment (the highest level completed and the field of study). Using the 2011 National Household Survey matched to data from the Occupational Information Network (which contains information on occupational skill requirements), the study uncovers many new findings on the skill requirements of jobs held by Canadians aged 25 to 34 with different educational qualifications. First, skill-level requirements in all areas generally increase with higher educational levels. There are three notable exceptions to this trend, however: requirements for technical operation and maintenance skills do not generally increase with more schooling; doctoral graduates require considerably less resource management skills than other university graduates; and professional-degree holders have jobs that require lower mathematics skills than other university graduates, although this is entirely because of law graduates. Moreover, skill requirements are almost always higher among bachelor's degree holders and college graduates of specific disciplines, compared with high school graduates. Second, skill requirements vary considerably by field of study. For example, bachelor's degree holders in architecture, engineering, and related technologies generally work in multidimensional jobs requiring diverse, high-level skills. In fact, these graduates rank at the top or very close to the top in eight of the nine skills examined. In contrast, bachelor's degree holders in three fields (education; visual and performing arts, and communications technologies; and humanities) generally rank lower than other bachelor's degree holders in most skills examined. However, the skill requirements of college graduates and bachelor's degree holders are very different across fields of study. While skill requirements are almost always higher among bachelor's degree holders than among college graduates from the same discipline, the relative ranking of disciplines tends to differ for each level. Finally, there are considerably more gender differences among college graduates than among bachelor's degree holders with regard to skill requirements by field of study.

Understanding the return on investment (ROI) in VET provides governments with information on the performance of the system and justification for public expenditure. It can help enterprises and individuals to measure productivity improvement in firms or to determine increases in the employability of individuals following training investment. However, the measurement of ROI is not straightforward. This report introduces a conceptual framework for defining what is involved in the ROI calculation and provides a guide to what type of information and data are required to calculate the returns to training for government, employers and individuals.

Despite rich evidence on the benefit of summer enrollment at the K-12 level, the college completion literature has so far focused on college readiness, remediation, and financial aid, and has largely overlooked the potential benefits of taking summer courses among college students. Academic momentum theory suggests that summer enrollment may increase credit accumulation and retention and thus increase the rate of college completion. Using proximity to the closest four-year college as an instrumental variable (IV), I analyze public higher education data from an anonymous state to examine how enrolling in summer credits can impact college outcomes and the mechanisms by which it may do so. I find that summer enrollees in the sample had higher bachelor's degree completion rates than summer non-enrollees. Summer enrollees returned to college at a higher rate and completed more credits in the following fall without compromising their grade point averages. Students with lower first-term grade point averages benefitted more from summer enrollment. When summer enrollees reached the labor market, they had higher employment rates six years after initial enrollment. Conditional on employment, earnings were equivalent among summer enrollees and non-enrollees. These findings indicate that summer enrollment benefits students through retention, which leads to higher rates of completion and employment. They suggest that colleges may want to seek opportunities for increasing summer enrollment, and they have implications for the current method of Pell Grant allocation, which privileges the fall and spring terms over the summer term.

While research has consistently found strong positive earnings returns to the bachelor's degree, recent evidence also highlights heterogeneity in post-college outcomes. Combined with increases in the proportions of students borrowing to enroll, heterogeneity in college outcomes introduces the risk that some students with college degrees may experience financial hardship after graduation. Using nationally representative data on baccalaureate recipients in 1993 and 2008, this paper jointly examines labor market and debt outcomes four years after students graduate, with a focus on exploring heterogeneity by institution type and major field of study, as well as trends over time. Results confirm that the typical graduate fares well after college, both in terms of earnings and debt management. Borrowing rates and debt loads have increased substantially over time, but these substantially higher levels of debt are nonetheless manageable for the vast majority of graduates. Within this context of positive outcomes, stratification by institution type, for both earnings and debt outcomes, appears to be increasing. Similarly, while the top-earning majors have remained quite stable over time, the magnitude of the advantage of engineering, math/computer science, and business graduates has grown notably. Examining debt alongside earnings only reinforces the patterns by major: higher earning fields also have lower debt-to-earnings ratios. Overall, these patterns offer reassurance regarding the typical returns to bachelors' degrees, even for those graduating into the Great Recession, and even in light of growing debt loads. But the results also provide evidence that students' choices about where to attend and what to study have only become more consequential over time. The following tables are appended: (1) Employment, Enrollment, and Debt Outcomes by Gender; (2) Employment, Enrollment, and Debt Outcomes by Self-Reported Race/Ethnicity; and (3) Employment, Enrollment, and Debt Outcomes by Highest Parental Education.

It has been well documented that the children of immigrants in Canada outperform their peers with Canadian-born parents in educational attainment, and that the two groups have similar labour market outcomes. However, large variations by ethnicity or source country exist among the children of immigrants. This study examines the extent to which admission class (e.g., skilled workers, business immigrants, live-in caregivers, the family class and refugees) also matters in the socioeconomic outcomes of childhood immigrants who arrived in Canada before the age of 18. Using the 2011 National Household Survey, linked with the Immigrant Landing File, this study finds large differences by admission class in university completion rates and earnings for childhood immigrants aged 25 to 44. Children of skilled workers and business immigrants had the highest university completion rates and earnings. Children of live-in caregivers and in the family class had the lowest university completion rates, and children of live-in caregivers and refugees landed in Canada had the lowest earnings. The analysis shows that the admission class of immigrant parents matters to their children's outcomes partly through group differences in the education and official language ability of parents and partly through the unique pre- and post-migration circumstances experienced by each admission class.

Relationships between community colleges and the public workforce system might have an important role in promoting students' success in the labor market and in college. In particular, the co-location of American Job Centers (AJC) on community college campuses is a particularly strong form of relationship that might benefit students. Yet little is known about the impact of co-located AJCs on students. This study examines student outcomes at six community colleges in North Carolina that had co-located AJCs on their campuses. Exploiting the variation in the timing of the co-location, the study uses a difference-in-differences approach to estimate the impact of AJC co-location on students' credential completion, employment, and earnings. After three years, AJC co-location had a negative relationship with completion and employment and no relationship with earnings for the overall sample. Where five-year outcomes were available for a subset of students, there was no relationship between AJC co-location and completion, employment, or earnings. For students who completed a credential, the presence of a co-located AJC had no relationship to employment or earnings outcomes. This analysis does not support the notion that AJC co-location improves student outcomes; however, additional analyses are needed where more data are available to fully assess the effect of co-location. Table A.1: Timing of One-Stop Opening and Closure on Community College Campuses is appended.

We examine the relative labor market gains experienced by first-time college students who enrolled in five community colleges in Michigan in 2003 and 2004. We track credentials, credits, earnings, and employment for these students through 2011. We compare labor market outcomes of those who earned a credential (associate degree or certificate) to those who enrolled but did not earn a credential. The data sources consist of administrative records data from the colleges, Unemployment Insurance earnings data from the State of Michigan, and enrollment and graduation data from the National Student Clearinghouse. Our analytic sample consists of 20,581 students. We find that students who were awarded a long-term certificate (referred to as a "diploma" in some states, including North Carolina) earned $2,500 to $3,600 more per year than did those without a credential, with the larger returns concentrated among men. For associate degrees, the estimated returns were $9,400 for women and $5,600 for men. Women saw little gain when awarded a short-term certificate, while men gained $5,200 per year. Estimated returns were highest in health-related and technical fields. Two appendices are included: (1) Analysis of Non-Credit Courses and Awards; and (2) Coding of Fields and Subfields of Study.

A common complaint from business and industry is that employees entering the workforce are not "job ready." They often lack the practical skills, maturity, and workplace experience to perform well in their roles, leaving employers to fill the gap by providing training either at their own expense or with public funding. In contrast, a new employee with previous experience as a volunteer in an emergency services organisation comes into the workplace with an understanding of teamwork, a demonstrated sense of community and responsibility, and an appreciation of the role of organisational culture, thus accelerating their emergence as an asset to their employer. This case study of the South Australia Country Fire Service (SA CFS) examined key factors in the resourcing and efficacy of training for volunteers. It was undertaken as a joint initiative of Government Skills Australia (GSA), the SA CFS and the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER). The SA CFS delivers nationally endorsed and non-endorsed training to their volunteers, all funded from the annual operational budget it receives from the South Australian Government. It maintains a training centre at Brukunga in the Adelaide Hills and several regional training resources across the state. The SA CFS is a registered training organisation. The research sought views through qualitative and quantitative sources, interviewing brigades, employers and key industry stakeholders--242 volunteers responded to the quantitative survey. The core hypothesis for this research was that SA CFS volunteers who trained under the Australian Qualifications Framework's (AQF) Public Safety Training Package are taking skills and knowledge gained in roles as firefighters, trainers and incident managers into their paid employment. Formal transferrable skills revealed in the case study included safety and first aid, truck driving, equipment use (e.g. using a chainsaw), training and assessment. Such skills have valuable alignment with jobs in Agriculture; Food and Forestry; Mining; Public Administration and Safety; and Health Care and Social Assistance industry areas. Other generic skills acquired informally are in management, leadership, communication and logistics. The SA CFS training model is not funded to recognise these latter skills. The data gathered also show that the SA CFS provides pathways for young people through its programs for cadets; the inclusion of SA CFS volunteering in the South Australian Certificate of Education for Years 11 and 12; and the provision of nationally accredited units in operational training. This is important given the need to recruit and retain new, younger volunteers in the emergency service sector. The findings indicate that volunteers are more strongly aware of the benefits of SA CFS training to the workplace than their employers. Their skills acquisition and transfer have multifaceted, multi-directional benefits: volunteers who are drawn from a broad range of industries bring professional skills to the brigade and transfer knowledge among the volunteer cohort; they also take skills imparted during their volunteer experience back to the workplace and to their communities. Greater recognition of this process is warranted, especially in order to elucidate the overall gains for both employers and the community from the activities of the SA CFS as a learning organisation. Appended are: (1) Survey Questions; and (2) Employer Telephone Interview Survey Script.

This study explores the relationship between college major, occupation, and early-career annual earnings for the years 2008 to 2010 using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth of 1997 (NLSY97). I provide estimates of the effect of college major on earnings for those with bachelor's degrees, associate degrees, and some college but no degree. The study also develops a crosswalk between college major and occupation to measure whether education and employment are matched. Results suggest that the early returns to postsecondary credentials vary widely by college major and level of attainment, with large economic benefits accruing to credentials in business, health science, and STEM subjects and much smaller benefits accruing to credentials in education and the humanities. The study also finds that matched employment in the fields of health science, STEM, and education provides a substantial premium to bachelor's degree holders, while matched employment in health science provides a substantial premium to those with an associate degree. [Appendices A and B are available at ED555429.]

This study addresses qualifications at level 5 of the European qualifications framework (EQF) in 15 countries (Belgium (Flanders), the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Ireland, France, Croatia, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, the United Kingdom (EWNI and Scotland) that had linked their national qualification levels to the EQF by June 2012. EQF level 5 qualifications play an important role in providing access to employment and career advancement as well as enabling further learning and progression to higher education. This double function makes them attractive to learners and employers. Although the extent to which countries use qualifications at EQF level 5 differs, their importance is growing in all countries investigated for several reasons. First, they are developed as response to increased needs for advanced technical and/or management skills. Second, they seem to be especially attractive to students with VET background and those already in employment. They also contribute to lifelong learning by being accessible and attractive for adults and non-traditional learners. The following are appended: (1) List of working definitions; (2) List of interviewees; (3) Available data on EQF level 5 qualifications; (4) Key purposes and functions of qualifications; (5) Further material on learning outcome descriptions of qualifications; and (6) Duration and mode of delivery. A bibliography is also included. [The research was carried out by Panteia in consortium with 3S under Cedefop service contract AO/ECVL/JBSPEV/Qualifications_EQF_level_5/001/12.]

Our paper examines the prevalence and determinants of children's transitions into and out of food insecurity since 2001. We use longitudinally linked data from the Food Security Supplements to the Current Population Surveys to estimate one-year transition probabilities of entry and exit from food insecurity. Our results indicate that child hunger is typically short-lived, but children experiencing very low food security frequently experience multiple consecutive years of food insecurity. We demonstrate large demographic and socioeconomic differences in rates of entry into very low food security and persistence in children's food insecurity. Income and employment shocks are important predictors of child hunger transitions. Finally, we find that the Great Recession increased the likelihood that children entered into and persisted in food insecurity among children.

Unemployment Insurance (UI) is the major social insurance program that protects against lost earnings resulting from involuntary unemployment. Existing literature finds that low-earning unemployed workers experience difficulty accessing UI benefits. The most prominent policy reform designed to increase rates of monetary eligibility, and thus UI receipt, among these unemployed workers is the Alternative Base Period (ABP). In 2009 the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act sought to increase use of the ABP, making ABP adoption a necessary pre-condition for states to receive their share of the $7 billion targeted at UI programs. By June 2012, 40 states and the District of Columbia had adopted the ABP despite the absence of an evaluation of ABP efficacy using nationally representative data. This paper analyzes Current Population Survey data from 1987-2007 to assess the efficacy of the ABP in increasing UI receipt among low-educated unemployed workers. We use a natural-experiment design and logistic regression models to capture the combined behavioral and mechanical effects of the policy change. We find no association between state-level ABP adoption and individual UI receipt for all unemployed workers. However, among part-time unemployed workers with less than a high-school degree, adoption of the ABP is associated with a 3.4 percentage point increase in the probability of UI receipt. (Contains 5 tables, 1 figure and 7 footnotes.)

Five years after implementation, the Certificate IV in Training and Assessment (TAA40104, and hereafter also referred to as the Certificate IV) remains a pivotal qualification in the national vocational education and training (VET) system. Under the Australian Quality Training Framework (AQTF) it is the qualification required by both workplace trainers/assessors and trainers/assessors working in classroom situations in registered training organisations (RTOs). Graduates with this qualification are in a position to have a significant influence on the quality of VET delivery. Consequently, opinions abound regarding the content and delivery of the qualification. There is a small but growing body of research, reports and conference papers that focus on the implementation of the qualification (Alexander 2007; Vocational Education and Training Accreditation Board 2008), its fitness as the benchmark for trainers and assessors in the national VET system (Innovation Business Skills Australia 2006; McRae 2008; Smith 2007; Robertson 2008, 2009) and more recently the experiences of those who have undertaken the qualification (Down, De Luca & Galloway 2009; Clayton 2009). This paper aims to contribute to this body of research by exploring the goals of a sample of Certificate IV candidates and their expectations of the course, and comparing their initial intentions with their actual outcomes. As the author works in the adult and community education (ACE) sector in New South Wales, the sample was drawn from among the 25 NSW ACE providers with the Certificate IV in Training and Assessment on their scope of registration. The research findings will be useful for registered training organisations who are seeking a procedure for examining and comparing intent and outcomes. This paper provides a brief overview of current research and reports on the Certificate IV in Training and Assessment and other literature relating to the measurement of learner intent and outcomes. The paper then discusses the findings that emerged from the data collected for this research. Appendices include: (1) Online survey questions; (2) Phone interview questions; and (3) Profiles of phone interviewees. (Contains 2 tables, 9 figures, and 1 footnote.)

This report provides an analysis of the labour market impacts of EU policy interventions designed to support the transition to a job-rich, low-carbon economy. The approach taken is innovative as it combines quantitative (econometric modelling) and qualitative (case study) methods to investigate the expected impact of sustainable energy policies on employment and skills demand, while providing insights for the development of effective policies for VET activities that allow skills demands to be met. This report claims that the climate and energy targets can be achieved at the same time as EU employment targets. However, to do so requires greater integration of climate and energy polices with measures to support employment and skills development across the EU. Recognising the complementarity of education and training policies to low-carbon strategies is essential to ensuring skills needs are met and that the transition process is not held back. The following annexes are included: (1) Glossary of terms; (2) Abbreviations; (3) References; (4) Model-based approach; (5) Detailed model outputs; (6) Sustainable energy policy context; and (7) Domain analysis.

Over the past 40 years, the level of human capital investments has changed substantially for men and women. Changes in the intensive margin of college major selection have been also been substantial, as the number of graduates in humanities, social science, and teaching has declined, and the number in science, engineering, and business has increased, especially for women. However, while women are now more likely to complete a college degree than men, the distribution of college majors among college graduates remains unequal with women about 2/3 as likely as men to major in a business or science field. In this paper, we develop and estimate a dynamic overlapping generations model of human capital investment and employment decisions to understand these long-term changes in human capital investments. Our departure from the previous literature is that we separately examine college major choices, rather than aggregating these choices to the education level (e.g. college or no college). We overcome the absence of field of study information in the CPS and Census data by combining these data with auxiliary data sources which characterize the changes in field of study composition across a large number of birth cohorts. Results from counterfactual experiments show that changes in skill prices, higher schooling costs, and a reduction in the value of home for women all played an important role in the educational attainment and college major composition trends. The following are appended: (1) NSCG Data Appendix; (2) Model Solution Appendix; and (3) Type Parameter Estimates.

The Survey of Employer Use and Views of the VET System is designed to provide detailed information on the way employers interact with the vocational education and training (VET) system and their satisfaction with these dealings. The aim of the survey is to provide information enabling the Australian Government and state and territory governments to monitor, over time, employer engagement and satisfaction with vocational education and training in meeting the skill needs of the workforce. The survey also identifies and ranks the factors that influence employer engagement and satisfaction with vocational education and training. As part of the review of the survey, the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) is consulting with users to identify their information requirements and how the survey may be modified to better meet their needs. This paper has been prepared to: (1) confirm the survey is collecting data relevant to policy and information requirements; (2) provide information on data items currently collected in the survey; (3) determine the most suitable scope and methodology for ongoing surveys; and (4) canvas ideas on options for 2013 onwards. Appendices include: (1) Excerpt from the National Agreement for Skills and Workforce Development; and (2) List of data items available from the 2005, 2007, 2009 and 2011 surveys. (Contains 5 tables and 1 footnote.) [For related report, "Australian Vocational Education and Training Statistics: Employers' Use and Views of the VET System, 2009", see ED507550.]

Youth transitions refer to young people's journeys from school to post-school study and on to employment. This is a time when young people experience rapid biological, psychological and physical changes, as well as changing social and economic situations, as they begin to take on the responsibilities of adulthood. In this paper, the authors first define a "successful youth transition". They then consider a range of factors that affect transitions. Following this, they discuss a number of interventions which can help young people to make the transition successfully. (Contains 1 table and 2 footnotes.)

Vocational education in schools declined significantly following the demise of the 1970s of technical high schools. By the 1990s, it had undergone a renaissance after formal school vocational education and training (VET) programs became an accepted feature of the latter years of schooling. There is now a diverse range of school VET options available to young people in their senior years of schooling. Over 90% of senior secondary schools offer VET subjects and programs, and nationally over 40% of students participate in VET in Schools programs. Young people participating in the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY) can be tracked as they make their transitions from school to work, providing an opportunity to assess the impact of VET in Schools programs on their educational and employment outcomes. This briefing paper uses previous research on the impact of VET in Schools and some primary analysis of the data from LSAY participants who were first interviewed in 1995 or 2003 (Y95 and Y03) to assess the effect of these programs on school retention, post-school VET and employment, and young people's school and post-school aspirations. The results of the regression models are appended. (Contains 15 tables and 3 footnotes.)

This paper examines crowding-out effects and the labour market match for the tertiary educated in 26 OECD countries, using attainment data and data on labour market outcomes from Education at a Glance 2006. A first-difference approach is applied on a three-period, pooled country-panel to examine the effects of changes in tertiary attainment levels against changes in labour market outcomes over time. The policy questions in this paper focus on the potential negative short-term effects that mismatches between the supply of and demand for higher-educated individuals might bring about. There is no evidence in the current data suggesting any crowding-out effects of lower-educated from higher-educated individuals. On the contrary, there seems to be positive employment effects for individuals with less education in countries expanding their tertiary education. Labour market outcomes for the upper secondary educated appears to be less influenced by the expansion of tertiary education, but there is no indication that tertiary educated individuals, on average, are displacing (crowding out) upper secondary educated individuals from the labour market. Similarly, the job market for the tertiary educated appears to be little influenced by the expansion of tertiary education. There are some indications that relative unemployment (relative to upper secondary) for the tertiary educated has been diluted to some extent, but this appears to be more related to the upper secondary educated, relatively speaking, strengthening their labour market positions vis-a-vis tertiary educated individuals in general. The earnings advantage (premium) for tertiary educated individuals in comparison with upper secondary educated individuals is still on the rise, which suggests that, on the whole, demand outstrips supply in most countries. (Contains 4 footnotes, 5 figures and 6 tables.)

While promoting postsecondary credential completion is a national priority intended to help graduates secure good jobs, the value of credentials in the labor market from the perspective of employers is not well understood. Specifically, more attention is needed to understand how credentials align with employer needs. Through in-depth interviews with managers responsible for hiring information technology technicians, we examined their perceptions of associate and bachelor's degree holders in two contrasting labor markets: Detroit and Seattle. The study led to several key findings. First, across the two labor markets, employers expected some common qualities in both associate and bachelor's degree holders, including technical skills and knowledge, thinking skills, communication skills, and discipline. Second, while they expected some positive qualities in associate degree holders that were distinctive to this credential, many hiring managers also expected negative characteristics, such as a lack of academic ability, initiative, or skill. However, while both associate and bachelor's degrees provided relevant information about potential workers, employers did not expect the credentials to provide information about certain key qualities they sought in workers, including competency in customer service and teamwork, and personal interest in technology. Some of the qualities that employers expected in associate degree holders were linked to their local labor markets and their perceptions of the local community colleges. This study provides suggestions on how an understanding of the specific qualities employers expect in credential holders and of the role of the local labor market can help colleges better engage with employers and fine-tune their programs to more effectively meet students' and employer's needs. Descriptions of the Qualities Expected in Credential Holders and Sought in Information Technology Technicians are appended. (Contains 4 tables and 4 footnotes.)

Building the research capacity of the vocational education and training (VET) sector is a key concern for the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER). To assist with this objective, NCVER supported an academic scholarship program, whereby VET practitioners are sponsored to undertake university study at honours, master's, or doctorate level. NCVER then published a snapshot of their research. The author received an academic scholarship in 2009 to assist with her doctoral studies at the University of Melbourne. The author is an English as a second language teacher of adult migrants and international students at Holmesglen in Melbourne. Her research explores how studying English as a second language can help adult migrants to integrate into Australian society. A survey was distributed to migrants at the commencement of their English studies at the Jarrah Language Centre to gather demographic data. Fourteen were selected from this group to be interviewed four times over a period of approximately two years to garner a sense of their post-course experiences, their level of integration and any changes to their circumstances during that time. Findings include: (1) Not being competent and confident in using English was seen by migrants and language centre teachers and staff as the biggest barrier to integration; (2) Most migrants undertook English as a second language classes to improve their spoken English and valued the speaking opportunities provided in their classes, but they would like more opportunities to speak everyday English in class; (3) Migrants found undertaking English language classes valuable in helping them to move into mainstream study and employment. By the time of the last interview, most migrants were either in full- or part-time work or were continuing with mainstream study; and (4) English as a second language programs, on their own, are not enough to ensure gaining permanent employment. Instead, they are a pathway to further study or low-level jobs. Having a language centre located in a TAFE institute also encourages movement into further study. Appended are: (1) Surveyed migrants' countries of birth; (2) Surveyed migrants' highest completed level of schooling; (3) Interviewed migrant profile, July 2007; and (4) Interviewed migrants' post-2007 English as a second language course goals and outcomes, mid-2008 and January 2010. (Contains 8 tables and 15 footnotes.)