Utilizing comprehensive administrative data from Norway I investigate long-term birth month effects. I demonstrate that the oldest children in class have a substantially higher GPA than their younger peers. The birth month differences are larger for low-SES children. Furthermore, I find that the youngest children in class are lagging significantly…

Skill development has been a major policy agenda in several countries and there is a lot of emphasis on the promotion of vocational education and training (VET) programmes. This paper investigates the labour market outcomes of the vocationally trained population in India using the data from a nationally representative survey on employment and…

This third installment of "Hard Times" updates the previous analyses of college majors, unemployment, and earnings over the Great Recession. While there is wide variation by college majors, hard times have become better times for most college graduates, but the recovery is far from complete. Hard times are becoming better times for most…

Post-recession Federal policy initiatives, such as secondary/postsecondary career pathways and gainful employment higher education accountability standards, prioritize the alignment of education practices with market-driven outcomes. Using longitudinal student record data merged from college and state K-12 data systems with the Unemployment…

This study investigated whether sheltered workshops help prepare individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) for competitive employment within the community. Two groups of individuals were compared: (a) 215 supported employees who were in sheltered workshops prior to entering supported employment and (b) 215 supported employees who were not in…

This study investigated whether receiving transition services early (i.e., by age 14) promoted better vocational outcomes than receiving transition services later (i.e., by age 16) for young adults with ASD. To do this, the outcomes achieved by two matched groups were examined--453 young adults from states requiring transition services be…

A college degree is often viewed as a key step toward better employment and higher earnings. Many community college students, however, never graduate and cannot reap the financial benefits associated with a college degree. Although existing research suggests that financial aid interventions can modestly improve students' short-term academic…

The authors use administrative data from Florida to determine the extent to which prison-based adult basic education (ABE) improves inmate's postrelease labor market outcomes, such as earnings and employment. Using two nonexperimental comparison groups, the authors find evidence that ABE participation is associated with higher postrelease earnings…

Young female adults with disabilities are at risk for difficult lives. The transition from high school to post-secondary education is fraught with difficulties for disabled persons and research indicates they do not fare as well as their non-disabled peers (Wagner, 1992; Wagner, Newman, Cameto & Levine, 2005). In addition, gender disparities…

Taiwan is one of the few countries in which bachelor degrees can be earned by attending either 4-year academic colleges or vocational colleges. This paper offers new evidence on whether returns to B.A. degrees are significantly different between academic and vocational 4-year colleges using the 1998-1999 Taiwanese College Graduate Survey. The…

This study extends previous work of Cain Polidano and Kostas Mavromaras (2010) which showed that vocational education and training (VET) qualifications had a positive effect on the chances of finding work for people with a disability. It teases out this earlier result by looking at whether, for those who already have a disability, completing a VET…

This paper reports findings from a national random sample survey of more than 600 young Americans, asking them for their views on jobs, college, and their own economic prospects. The survey was designed to shed light on questions such as these: (1) How do young Americans think about college and jobs as they become working-age adults and begin…

Research messages 2010 is a collection of summaries of research projects published by the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER). The summaries are clustered under five broad themes used by NCVER to organise its research and analysis: Industry and employers; Students and individuals; Teaching and learning: VET system; and VET in…

In an effort to document the secondary school experiences and postsecondary outcomes of students with disabilities over the last two decades, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) sponsored two longitudinal research studies 15 years apart. The first study, the National Longitudinal Transition Study (NLTS) generated nationally representative…

This study explores gender ideology, fertility factors (e.g., age at first birth, number of children), and their effects on earnings of African American (n = 413), Hispanic American (n = 271), and White (n = 817) mothers. An analysis of data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth over a 10-year period (1988 to 1998) shows that, on average,…