Well-educated workers have higher wages, higher wage growth, and lower unemployment rates than workers with lower levels of educational attainment. While earnings have traditionally grown with educational attainment, the gaps have become more pronounced in recent years. While returns to education have increased, this research shows that…

Stagnant earnings and growing inequality in the US labor market reflect both a slowdown in the growth of worker skills and the growing matching of good-paying jobs to skilled workers. Improving the ties between colleges, workforce institutions, and employers would help more workers gain the needed skills. Evaluation evidence shows that training…

Through the years, educators, parents, and the general public believed that a college degree is one of the most powerful strategies for our nation's war on poverty. The increased earning power of individuals with college degrees and the contribution to our economic security were frequently acknowledged. Our commitment and attention to college…

Research which involves disabled children and young people now constitutes a fairly well-established body of work in the social sciences. However, discussion on the role of the (normally adult) researcher has arguably been marginalised in the much-needed exploration of disabled children's "voices". Drawing on a qualitative study of the transition…

Preparing students for college and careers is a task that has drastically changed over time. The days of post-secondary education or a degree guaranteeing employment are things of the past, especially during times of economic instability. Also gone are the days of someone who is "good with their hands" graduating from high school and…

The authors investigated the relationship between the variables of work engagement, developmental work personality, and academic effort in a sample of college students. This study provides evidence for the hypothesized positive relationship between academic effort, engagement, and work personality. When gender was controlled, the Work Tasks…

In the 1980s, researchers established the need to document and analyse the educational attitudes, behaviours and outcomes of "ordinary kids" as a means of developing a holistic account of school experience. Yet, while significant attention is given to extremes in educational attitudes and behaviours, "ordinariness" tends to remain overlooked in…

In this introduction to the special issue, the author examines the wider context within which vocational education and training (VET) is set and the surrounding debates. He considers the prominence of neoliberalism and notions of competitiveness, crisis, skill and knowledge. Despite differences between systems of VET with respect to their reach…

The increasing desire to obtain a higher education in Russia is causing a growing disparity between educational qualifications and the needs of the labor market. Blue-collar jobs of varying levels are difficult to fill, and the demand for the qualification of those with degrees is not sufficient to avoid high levels of unemployment. Ways need to…

Context: Anecdotal information has been shared for several years that employers do not feel that new athletic training graduates are ready for the workforce. To date there have been no studies of employers and employees to determine deficiencies in order to confirm or refute this position. Objective: To explore the opinions of employers and…

This paper uses panel data and econometric methods to estimate the incidence and the dynamic properties of overskilling among employed individuals. The paper begins by asking whether there is extensive overskilling in the labour market, and whether overskilling differs by education pathway. The answer to both questions is yes. The paper continues…

A feature of the existing literature on minority students' transition to college is the preponderance of models that have "imagined" what students (and their families) need to have in order to be successful. In this paper we discuss how the theoretical framework of funds of knowledge can be used by researchers in higher education to challenge…

Transition from school to work is a challenging period for young people with learning difficulties. In the dual vocational system of Switzerland, teachers at vocational educational and training (VET)-schools, as well as trainers at VET-companies, provide important support. We were interested in the different pathways from this support to…

This article looks at motivations and both formal and informal learning contexts for well-educated young Balinese from poorer areas who enrol in cruise ship training colleges. The major motivations were getting a high income and helping the family. While basic hospitality and tourism skills are acquired, trainees also named other capacities such…

Social work is emerging as a rapidly developing profession in mainland China, a unique context that affects how these new social workers view themselves, their professional identity, and their work. Few studies explore the lived experiences of these new social workers as they enter agencies and begin working with clients while interacting with…