Part-time workers' earnings are much lower than those of their full-time counterparts, a difference often referred to as the part-time wage penalty. The mean hourly wage of part-time workers is only two-thirds that of full-time workers. Despite this wage penalty, there were no significant differences between part- and full-time workers in literacy…

Much research has been made in recent years on the effect of over and under education on earnings. In this paper, I examine the validity of the assumption that the return to over (under) education is independent of the level of education. I use data from the PIAAC survey to estimate the return to education. The findings show that while this…

This report examines the growing interest in expanding access to postsecondary education through non-degree certificate programs and associate degree programs. This policy report seeks to better understand the implications of these trends by analyzing employment experiences and earnings outcomes of individuals whose highest level of educational…

Context: Existing studies have explored the association between workplace training and wages suggesting that training participation may have a positive association with wages. However, we still know very little about whether this association varies between men and women. Through its potential positive association with wages, training may balance…

Using data from the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies, this paper compares the earnings premium and employment share of jobs in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) across 11 member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. The results reveal that the STEM wage premium…

Using data from the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies, this paper compares the earnings premium and employment share of jobs in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) across 11 member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. The results reveal that the STEM wage premium…

Background: One way of evaluating immigrants' labor market outcomes is to assess the extent to which immigrants are able to enter into jobs that are commensurate with their education and experience. An imperfect alignment between workers' educational qualifications and these required for their current job, or education-job mismatch, has…

As with the previous reports in the series, this new report relies on the rich source of data from the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), including direct assessment of literacy and numeracy skills and a host of information on education, income, and other demographic characteristics. But what is unique in…

The high dependence on technology for economic activities in developed countries stresses the importance of lifelong learning in order to equip adult workers with the skills required to perform work related tasks, and also increase labor force participation. We use data from the 2012/2014 Program for the International Assessment of Adult…

Diploma and degree completion have become the fundamental standard for judging the performance of secondary and postsecondary educational institutions. Increasingly, leaders of education and workforce policy and programs assume that these measures of attainment effectively serve as indicators of adequate levels of essential literacy and numeracy…

Policymakers are increasingly concerned that employees need both foundational skills, such as numeracy, and soft skills to take better advantage of new technologies and adapt to changing work. In this study, we examined the relationships between the use of soft skills and occupational outcomes among a nationally representative sample of adult…