An important goal of community colleges is to prepare students for the labor market. But are students aware of the labor market outcomes in different majors? And how much do students weigh labor market outcomes when choosing a major? In this study we find that less than 40% of a sample of community college students in California rank broad categories of majors accurately in terms of labor market outcomes. However, students believe that salaries are 13 percent higher than they actually are, on average, and students underestimate the probability of being employed by almost 25 percent. We find that the main determinants of major choice are beliefs about course enjoyment and grades, but expected labor market outcomes also matter. Experimental estimates of the impact of expected labor market outcomes are larger than OLS estimates and show that a 1% increase in salary is associated with a 1.4 to 1.8% increase in the probability of choosing a specific category of majors.

During economic downturns, college students can alter their postsecondary education decisions through several channels. This paper focuses on college major choice, one higher education decision that might change after a recession, and one that few researchers have explored. Due to data limitations, previous research is unable to provide definitive results on if, or how, matriculating freshmen change college majors during recessions. The data used for this study assuages those limitations and is obtained from the "Freshman Survey," administered by the Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP). Building on what is already known about how students choose college majors and how they respond to information shocks, the theoretical model proposes that during economic downturns, students will switch to fields with higher relative wage and employment opportunities. First, this study finds that freshmen are less likely to have undeclared intended majors after recessions. Then, a multinomial logit empirical technique strongly suggests that after economic downturns, those who declare intended majors are more likely to choose ones that offer higher wages and provide more job security, like Technology, Business, Engineering and Health. University administrators can apply this empirical model to their own institutional-level data. In the presence of substantial budget cuts, administrators can anticipate the majors that will require more resources and those from which they can transfer resources to efficiently meet student demand. More broadly, these conclusions offer better information on labor force composition after recessions, which can enhance forecasting of likely shortages and surpluses in the labor market.

This report, which focuses on four US states – Ohio, Texas, Virginia and Washington – is the third of a series of country-specific reviews conducted as part of the OECD project on the labour market relevance and outcomes of higher education. he report offers a comprehensive review of graduate outcomes and policies supporting alignment between higher education and the labour market in the four participating states in 2018-19, an overview of the US labour market and higher education context, and a range of policy examples from across OECD jurisdictions to help improve the alignment of higher education and the labour market.

Community colleges enroll a third of all postsecondary students and have received increased attention in light of recent labor market changes. In this dissertation I study the connection between community colleges and the labor market, relying primarily on administrative student-level data from California. I estimate the value of a community college education and also explore to what extent colleges respond to long-term structural changes in the labor market. In the first chapter I estimate the earnings returns to all career-technical degrees and certificates in California. I use models that include individual fixed effects and individual trends. While generally positive, the returns vary across field of study and program length, with the largest returns in the health sector. In the second chapter I focus on the earnings returns to an associate's degree in nursing, which is a particularly large and important degree. I capitalize on random variation from admissions lotteries to produce causal estimates of the effect of the degree on earnings and employment, and find large effects. I find similar results using the individual fixed effects approach from the first chapter. I also show that there is substantial heterogeneity in earnings returns across nursing programs. In light of concerns about nursing shortages, I estimate that the economic value of expanding a nursing program far outweighs the costs. An implication of the second chapter is that certain community college programs may not expand enough to meet growing labor market demand. I explore this common critique of community colleges in the third chapter. I match California administrative data to occupation-level information from the Census. I first provide a descriptive picture of how the distribution of community college degrees and certificates compares to that of overall employment. Using a shift-share instrumental variables approach I then show that, since 1990, there has been a modest relationship between the change in an occupation’s share of total employment and its share of community college degrees and certificates. Together, the papers in this dissertation shed light on important, policy-relevant questions about an often-neglected yet crucial sector of the American postsecondary educational system

The economics of education is a burgeoning area of study, employing increasingly sophisticated analytical tools to answer questions with high societal impact. Thus, the aim of this handbook is to provide readers with an up-to-date overview of the current state of the field of the economics of education and its main areas of research. This comprehensive handbook provides an authoritative overview of key theoretical and policy areas, covering topics like econometric methods for education economics, returns to education, competition in education provision, education and economic growth, and education and inequality. It reviews the current state of research from early childhood through postgraduate education as well as adult education and life-long learning. Offering a truly international perspective, the handbook benefits from a global group of contributors and attention to both developed and developing country contexts. The Routledge Handbook of the Economics of Education will be a valuable resource for advanced students, researchers, and policymakers across economics, education, and public policy.

Higher education in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) has expanded dramatically in the new millennium, yet enrollment in short-cycle programs (SCPs) is still relatively low. Shorter and more practical than bachelor’s programs, SCPs can form skilled human capital fast. The economic crisis created by the COVID-19 pandemic has accentuated underlying trends, such as automation, the use of electronic platforms, and the need for lifelong learning. Addressing these demands requires the urgent upskilling and reskilling of the population—a task for which SCPs are uniquely suited. The Fast Track to New Skills: Short-Cycle Higher Education Programs in Latin America and the Caribbean explores the labor market out¬comes and returns of SCPs, examines their providers, and identifies the practices adopted by the best programs. Relying on unique data that includes a novel survey of SCP directors in five LAC countries, it finds that while SCPs generate, on average, good labor market out¬comes, they vary greatly in quality. SCP providers respond quickly and flexibly to local economy needs; and specific practices related to faculty, job search assistance, and interaction with prospective em¬ployers are distinctive of the best programs. Drawing on these findings, The Fast Track to New Skills discusses how to create an environment where good programs are offered and students have the interest and means to attend them. It draws attention to a higher education sector that has been typically overlooked, both in research and policy. The Fast Track to New Skills will be of interest to policy makers, researchers, and the public at large.