I explain changes in the wage structure favoring more skilled workers since 1980 using job task data from the Occupational Information Network and wage data from the March CPS. Using recently developed partialling out estimators including debiased machine learning, I obtain wage effects for a suite of tasks, including a novel computer task…

Community colleges play a critical role in helping people connect to careers in the United States. After the Great Recession, community colleges emerged as the workforce and economic development institution that could fill the gaps left by traditional higher education for shorter, non-degree career education while also meeting the needs of local…

Comparing the papers on the Korean and the U.S. situations leads to interesting conclusions. Cho and Shin argue that the recent crisis did not create huge problems in the labor market because Korea was firstly in a fundamentally sound economic situation and secondly took adequate anti-crisis measures, in particular by stabilizing internal demand.…

In early nineteenth-century England, workers now known as Luddites roamed the countryside destroying machinery that they saw as creating unemployment and upsetting their traditional way of life. They believed that the growing mechanization of production, what people would now call technological change, and the expanding volume of trade ushered in…

Employability skills are central to gaining and keeping employment (e.g. whether paid or unpaid, as an employee or self employed) as well as career progression. The lack of such skills is regularly referred to as one reason for the United Kingdom's often cited long tail of underachievement. Employability skills are at the forefront of government…

This dissertation examines issues regarding the educational attainment of the U.S. workforce. Specifically, I investigate the impact of various factors on the growth of postsecondary educational attainment. This includes issues pertaining to improving the skill-level of the workforce at the regional or state level, as well as for the domestic…

Globalization is putting increasing pressure on jobs in the United Kingdom, particularly among less skilled activities. The European response through the Lisbon Strategy has been diffuse, while UK policy appears much more focused, concentrating on the need to raise education and skill levels. The present paper examines the transition towards a…

In 2006, a good education is no longer just a way for an individual to get ahead. It is also, and increasingly, the best way a state can get ahead-and therefore a real economic priority. A college degree confers specific, calculable benefits on a state's citizens: the average lifetime income of an individual with a bachelor's degree is $2.1…

Employment in Hawaii (including hourly and salaried jobs and self-employment) is projected to grow by 14 percent from 2002 to 2012, adding over 78,000 new jobs to the state's economy and growing the workforce from 558,220 to 636,480. The rate of growth is slightly lower than the 15 percent increase projected for the nation as a whole. Over the…

In Arizona, one of the country's fastest growing states, the demand for well-educated employees will only increase over the next several years. In the decade leading up to 2013, healthcare occupations will see growth of 50 percent. Almost 1,800 dentists will need to be hired to fill new posts and to cover retirement, for example. Teachers will be…

In South Dakota, the demand for well-educated employees will only increase over the next several years. In the decade leading up to 2012, healthcare and healthcare support occupations will see growth of about 25 percent; over 2,500 new practitioners and technicians will be needed. There will be a 24 percent increase in the number of…

In California, the nation's most populous state, the demand for well-educated employees will only increase over the next several years. In the decade leading up to 2012, healthcare occupations will see growth of 28 percent; over 157,000 new practitioners and technicians will be needed. Teachers will be in high demand: over a quarter million new…

Employment in Colorado (including hourly and salaried jobs and self-employment) is projected to grow by 23 percent from 2002 to 2012, adding some 551,630 new jobs to the state's economy and growing the workforce from 2,355,290 to 2,906,920. The rate of growth is much higher than the 15 percent increase projected for the nation as a whole.…

In Nevada, the demand for well-educated employees will only increase over the next several years. In the decade leading up to 2012, healthcare occupations will see growth of 47 percent. Teachers will be in demand: over 1,100 new primary and secondary educators will need to be hired each year. Managers will see their ranks swell by 44 percent, with…

This fact sheet states that in 2006, a good education is no longer just a way for an individual to get ahead. It is also the best way a state can get ahead -- and therefore a real economic priority. A state must ensure that all of its citizens have access to a college education. In Oregon, a state recovering from the 2000-03 recession, the demand…