Effective career guidance systems provide students with the opportunity to gain first hand experiences of what it is like to be in work. Students in general secondary education in many countries are encouraged and enabled by their schools to participate in short duration internships (also known in some countries as work experience placements).…

It is generally accepted that human capital is an important factor in economic growth, but its impact on growth depends on the demand for education and skills on the labor market. Demand for human capital is largely determined by the institutional environment that governs the basic conditions for economic activity. The author expresses ten doubts…

We examine whether women's rising labor force participation led to increased intergenerational transmission of occupation from fathers to daughters. We develop a model where fathers invest in human capital that is specific to their own occupations. Our model generates an empirical test where we compare the trends in the probabilities that women…

While several types of mental illness, including substance abuse disorders, have been linked with poor labor market outcomes, no current research has been able to examine the effects of childhood ADHD. As ADHD has become one of the most prevalent childhood mental conditions, it is useful to understand the full set of consequences of the illness.…

Since 2003, Chinese university students have faced a dangerous level of unemployment after graduation. Current trends indicate that the situation is likely to remain at this level for some time. This article argues that it is difficult to generalize that there has been a decline in the competitiveness of all university students in the job market…

"Human capital" is quickly becoming the new site-based management, a popular strategy from the 1980s and 1990s that sought to increase autonomy in schools and spread decision making more widely. While few are sure what human capital means, everyone craves it, has a model to deliver it, and is quick to tout its restorative powers. It is…

In this paper we attempt to measure the educational mismatch, seen as a problem of overeducation, using a multidimensional and fuzzy methodology. Educational mismatch can be difficult to measure because many factors can converge to its definition and the traditional unidimensional indicators presented in literature can offer a restricted view of…

The nation's recuperation from the Great Recession remains sluggish, with high unemployment and a weak housing market continuing to squelch hopes that a full economic recovery will soon be at hand. The intensity and nature of the recession's lingering effects vary considerably across the country, however. Some metro areas, like Austin and…

Never before has the demand for health care professionals been as great as it is now. But the supply of qualified domestic graduates is not expected to keep up with this demand, thus creating a shortage in most fields. Although the need in nursing is well documented, just as great a need exists in other health care fields: home health aides,…

The focus of this paper is on a microeconomic analysis of the annual transition rate from temporary to permanent work of individual workers in Canada for the period 1999-2004. Given that a large proportion of temporary employment is involuntary, an understanding of the factors associated with the transition to permanent work may inform public…

This paper estimates changes in the effects of educational attainment and college quality on three cohorts of students observed during the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. Consistent with most of the prior literature, I find that educational attainment and college quality raise earnings, and the magnitudes of these effects have increased over time. The…

The Commonwealth of Virginia, as with other states, operates a panoply of programs whose objectives, either directly or indirectly, are to develop the state's workforce. Some programs enhance the skills of Virginians through training or formal education; whereas other programs, such as the Employment Service, attempt to facilitate the employment…

Examines the effects of combined on-the-job and classroom training on the employability of Job Training Partnership Act terminees completing a two-year training activity in Missouri. Although combined program participants' employability was enhanced immediately after the program's termination, this advantage disappeared after one year. Benefits…

In this report data from the 1995 Year 9 Cohort of the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY) is used along with a variety of empirical approaches to assess the benefits of additional years of schooling for various groups of youth conditional upon their estimated propensity to engage in further schooling. Background material is provided…

Reducing the dropout rate of Mississippi's public education system from its national high of 42 percent of all students in any potential graduating class to the national average of 10 percent of the class cohort would result in substantial economic benefits to the state far outweighing the related costs, according to this analysis of relevant…