Recent vocational education and training (VET) reforms in many countries have focused on reducing the number of VET qualifications available and restructuring qualifications so that they better meet the needs of working life. This literature review provides examples of how VET qualifications have been rationalised in various countries and briefly…

This article provides an overview of the National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education Consortium's (NASDCTEc) Common Career Technical Core (CCTC), a state-led initiative that was created to ensure that career and technical education (CTE) programs are consistent and high quality across the United States. Forty-two states,…

In the 1990s, Mexican immigration dispersed spatially, leading to the emergence of many "new destinations," in nonmetropolitan areas of the United States. Previous studies constrain the scope of the analysis to the United States, limiting our understanding of how new destinations are formed. We place new destination formation into a…

This study identifies clusters of U.S. and Canadian metropolitan areas with similar knowledge traits. These groups--ranging from Making Regions, characterized by knowledge about manufacturing, to Thinking Regions, noted for knowledge about the arts, humanities, information technology, and commerce--can be used by analysts and policymakers for the…

This report provides information on fields of bachelor's degrees in the United States using data from the 2009 American Community Survey (ACS). It includes estimates of fields of bachelor's degree by demographic characteristics including age, sex, race, Hispanic origin, nativity, and educational attainment. This report also looks at geographic and…

Going directly from high school to college is not possible for everyone. Many who go to college will not do so straight out of high school, and many more need to work to pay for college. Good jobs for people without college degrees certainly still exist, although they are on a steady decline as computers and related technology take over routine…

The majority of states in the U.S. have embraced the career clusters concept. But they face challenges in implementing and expanding the system. This article discusses career cluster initiatives and the challenges they face. The career cluster model has the potential to help meet a number of challenges--from integrating academic and technical…

The United States, Canada, and Mexico developed the North American Industry Classification System, which captures new and emerging industries, uses a unified concept to define industries, and is a consistent and comparable tool for measuring the nations' economies. Despite initial conversion difficulties, the new system will be a more accurate way…

By 1975, the Kentucky and United States female labor force participation rates were both 41 percent. Although pre-World War II data are lacking for the Commonwealth, it was not until 1950 that the labor force participation rate for Kentucky women reached 20.4 percent, a figure achieved nationally as early as 1920. The distribution of women to men…

An instructor's manual on employment and the American economic system is provided in this set of prevocational education materials which focuses on the world of work. Instructional goals include knowing what is meant by employment, understanding how the American economic system works, and understanding what is meant by free enterprise. (This set…

A model was developed positing four factors as having a determinant influence on the desire of Mexicans for future economic relationships between their country and the United States. The factors, previously identified as occupying a central position in intercultural communication, are perceptions of shared interests, threats, homophily, and…

The metric system is discussed in this information analysis paper with regard to its history, a rationale for the United States' adoption of the metric system, a brief overview of the basic units of the metric system, examples of how the metric system will be used in different occupations, and recommendations for research and development. The…

This report describes scales and supporting empirical documentation associated with the Vocational Interest-Career Examination (VOICE). The instrument provides a reliable quantitative basis for describing the vocational interests of people who may have little or no experience on the job and for relating this information to the appropriate choice…

This survey, 24th in an annual series, provides nationwide salary data for 24 occupations spanning 101 work level categories. This information was collected from establishments in all areas of the United States except Alaska and Hawaii. The following major industrial groups were surveyed: mining; construction; manufacturing; transportation;…

Labor force participation and occupational structure and their changing trends in our society are addressed in this paper. The problems of not being able to find employment are also important, and unemployment is also examamined. Findings indicate that there are declining proportions of males in the labor force with greater decline among black…