The Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) is a multicycle survey of adult skills and competencies sponsored by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The survey examines a range of basic skills in the information age and assesses these adult skills consistently across participating…

The Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) is a multicycle survey of adult skills and competencies sponsored by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The survey examines a range of basic skills in the information age and assesses these adult skills consistently across participating…

Drawing on Eccles' expectancy-value model of achievement-related choices, we examined the personal aptitudes and motivational beliefs at 12th grade that move individuals toward or away from science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) occupations at age 29. In the first set of analyses, occupational and lifestyle values, math ability…

Taking a break between completing high school and entering university is common overseas, and is becoming more popular in Australia. There are many reasons why young people take a gap year. It may be to travel, to take a break, to study, or to work. The authors' definition of a "gapper" is a young person who commenced university one to…

The 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) assessed the English literacy skills of a nationally representative sample of 18,500 U.S. adults (age 16 and older) residing in private households. NAAL is the first national assessment of adult literacy since the 1992 National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS). The NAAL and NALS produced direct…

Taking a gap year--a break between high school and university--is becoming increasingly popular with Australian students. In terms of length and purpose, the traditional notion of a gap year being a year off between school and university has expanded considerably over time. For the purposes of the analysis reported in this paper, a person who…

Much analysis of youth transitions focuses on the first year after education, or outcomes at a specific age. Such work looks, for example, at the effect of education on the likelihood of being employed or unemployed. This study takes a different angle by considering the effect of education on the persistence of labour market outcomes. For example,…

The 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) assessed the English literacy skills of a nationally representative sample of more than 19,000 U.S. adults (age 16 and older) residing in households and correctional institutions. NAAL is the first national assessment of adult literacy since the 1992 National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS). The…

The Monitoring the Future (MTF) study is an ongoing series of national surveys of American adolescents and adults that has provided the nation with a vital window into the important, but largely hidden, problem behaviors of illegal drug use, alcohol use, tobacco use, anabolic steroid use, and psychotherapeutic drug use. For more than a third of…

Adult participation in education in the United Kingdom in 1999 was examined in a survey during which a sample of 5,054 adults over the age of 17 (2,366 men and 2,688 women) throughout the United Kingdom were interviewed. The following were among the major findings: (1) 23% of adults enrolled in courses were taking computer courses; (2) the rate of…

Data drawn from 3 cycles of data collection for the International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) were analyzed to identify the levels and distributions of literacy skills in the adult populations of 20 countries. The following were among the main conclusions: (1) in 14 of the countries, at least 15% of all adults have literacy skills at only the…

This report uses data from the Health and Retirement Survey (HRS) to analyze transitions in disabilities and employment from 1992 to 1994, the first two waves of the HRS survey. The survey included people ages 51 to 61 years of age in 1992, resulting in 8,737 participants. The report estimates the incidence of disabilities from 1992 to 1994 and…

Between 1991 and 1995, the percentage of employed workers participating in skill improvement training (SIT) for their current job increased from 30 to 32%. Participation in SIT increased for full- and part-time workers alike. In 1995, participation for a current job was highest among females and individuals in the 35-54 age group. Participation…

The primary aim of this study was to describe the movement of adolescents and young adults into and out of drug use and to predict heavy drug use. The data source is the Department of Labor's National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, which began in 1979 with a sample of 12,686 adolescents aged 14-21. After 17 rounds and 19 years, the response rate in…

A survey collected baseline data about public housing communities and residents just prior to the start of the Jobs-Plus program. The data were from all working-age, nondisabled heads of households in eight public housing developments in seven cities with customarily high rates of joblessness and reliance on welfare. The developments were part of…