This study investigates the impact of the extension of the duration of general education on educational opportunities and labour market performance. Taking the example of the Polish education reform of 1999, which we treated as a natural experiment, we used a regression discontinuity design and estimated the effects of an additional year of…

Using data collected from more than 5.8 million high school and college graduates ages 18 to 65 years who participated in the American Community Survey between 2009 and 2021, the authors estimate the internal rates of return (IRRs) for individuals with college degrees in 10 broad majors compared with high school graduates. The analysis shows…

The author of this article provides an example of how one might incorporate behavioral economics into teaching macroeconomics or labor economics at an undergraduate level. The focus is on two macroeconomic concepts--wage determination and the Phillips curve--and shows that the implications and conclusions of both models differ from their textbook…

Background: The landscape of education is increasingly recognizing the impactful role of Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs in preparing students for the workforce. In Delaware, the implementation of CTE programs has been substantial, offering students opportunities to earn college credits, attain industry certifications, and gain…

Using administrative data from Delaware and aggregate occupational wage data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, this paper examines expected wage inequality in Career and Technical Education (CTE) by analyzing how student demographics relate to selection into programs of study (POS) with different expected wages. Through multilevel mixed-effects…

This research brief examines race-based disparities in the lifetime earnings of Kentuckians at the same educational attainment level. It relies on data from the 2016-18 American Community Survey to approximate lifetime earnings for full-time workers with at least a high school diploma. It is the third of three research briefs on lifetime earnings…

The COVID-19 pandemic has heightened the visibility of economic inequality and the inadequacy of current minimum wage laws in the United States. Changes in the minimum wage, a living wage, or just employment practices may be compelled by law or voluntarily enacted by employers. A literature search failed to yield a concise and practical tool to…

Research estimating the outcomes of higher education in Germany has widely ignored the private educational sector. This study focuses on labour market returns in terms of the income of graduates from private higher education institutions in Germany. Using data from the National Education Panel Study (NEPS) the results of the Bayesian regression…

In 2021, the DC Council established the Early Childhood Educator Pay Equity Fund ("Pay Equity Fund") to improve compensation for early educators in licensed child development centers and homes. The fund leverages a tax on individuals earning more than $250,000 a year to sustainably fund supplemental payments to early educators in efforts…

Manufacturing employers often cite challenges to finding and hiring a sufficient number of highly skilled and diverse workers, so it is important to understand how pathways into manufacturing and the retention of manufacturing workers may be improved. The authors of this report address this research gap by examining the pipeline between Ohio's…

When examining career pathways, post-secondary institutions such as community colleges align education and training to career success, aiming to connect students to gainful employment. Career pathways support the skill needs of industries and incorporate competencies in an occupation or field represented by certificates and degrees awarded by the…

When workers hear about a possible promotion, it is common for them to get training, and they can do so through education. However, there is the possibility that the worker needs to receive a salary according to the knowledge acquired in such training. In this study, considering a population of employed workers with incomplete secondary school, we…

Child care teachers support young children's learning and development and parents' ability to work. However, they earn far less and turn over at far higher rates than K-12 teachers. COVID-19 exacerbated staffing challenges, and the child care workforce was 5.3% smaller in January 2023 than in January 2020. While low compensation likely drives…

Even though women have continuously caught up with men in education attainment and labor market participation since the 1970s, the wage gap between men and women still universally exists today. Do female college graduates still earn less than their male counterparts if men's and women's "profiles" of observed productivity-related…

This study leverages a policy change in the missionary program of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that exogenously influenced the likelihood that a woman took gap time during college to understand how gap time influences women's subsequent choice of major and academic outcomes. If structured gap time shapes educational outcomes,…