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This Issue Brief examines trends in undergraduate credentials (certificates, associate's degrees, and bachelor's degrees) in career-related areas of study. These trends are examined at both the subbaccalaureate and baccalaureate levels, from 1984-85 to 2000-01. The number of undergraduate credential awards increased over this period, in both academic and career areas, and at both the subbaccalaureate and baccalaureate levels. Although career education grew at a slower pace than academic education, it remained a majority proportion of undergraduate credentials in 2000-01. In addition, of the 11 career areas of study, 6 increased as a proportion of all credentials at the subbaccalaureate level, and 4 increased at the baccalaureate level. Career areas that declined as a proportion of all credential awards were largely concentrated in business/marketing and engineering/architectural sciences, at both levels of education.

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This brief paper uses data from the US Census Bureau's Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), a nationally representative sample survey of households. The SIPP provides information on many topics, including income, participation in government programs, family dynamics, and education. This report uses new SIPP data on professional licenses and certifications, collected September to December 2012. Work credentials can serve as an alternative or supplement to education credentials. Work credentials include occupational licenses and certifications; education credentials include diplomas, degrees, and educational certificates. Both types of credentials attest that a person has the skills needed to perform a job. However, a license is issued by a government agency (often a state board), while a certification is typically issued by a professional or trade organization. New national data show that over one in five adults (22 per cent) report having a work credential. Overall, 71 per cent of these credentialed adults report that their most recent credential is a license and 29 per cent report that it is a certification.

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In the US and internationally, digital technologies are pervasive both at home and at work. To understand how equipped adults are for successful participation in 21st-century society and the global economy, the OECD developed the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC). PIAAC measures adults' ability to solve problems using computer technologies by simulating tasks commonly performed in computer-based settings, such as e-mailing, interacting with websites, and using spreadsheets, to solve real-world problems such as purchasing goods or services, finding health information, and managing personal information and business finances. This report uses data from the 2012 PIAAC to examine the rate of digital literacy in the US, including how this rate varies among demographic and workforce groups, and how the US digital literacy rate compares to the rate in other countries.

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This report is the fourth in a series of volumes published periodically by [National Center for Education Statistics] NCES to describe the condition of vocational education (now called 'career and technical education' or CTE) in the United States. Based on data from 11 NCES surveys, the report describes CTE providers, offerings, participants, faculty, and associated outcomes, focusing on secondary, postsecondary, and adult education. Findings indicate that against a backdrop of increasing academic coursetaking in high school, no measurable changes were detected between 1990 and 2005 in the number of CTE credits earned by public high school graduates. At the postsecondary level, the number of credential-seeking undergraduates majoring in career fields increased by about one-half million students, although they made up a smaller portion of undergraduates in 2004 compared with 1990. At both the secondary and postsecondary education levels, student participation increased in health care and computer science and decreased in business between 1990 and the mid-2000s.

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This chapter presents data from two 1999 surveys on occupational program activities at the public secondary and less-than-four-year postsecondary education levels in America. Findings suggest that: 66% of all public schools offered at least one of the listed occupational education programs; vocational schools were more likely than comprehensive schools to offer the listed occupational programs; 90% of all less-than-four-year postsecondary education institutions and 91% of less-than-two-year institutions offered at least one of the listed occupational programs; various procedures exist to ensure a match between course content and occupational skill requirements, five of which were included in the survey; most secondary schools with one or more of the listed occupational programs had developed or adopted skill competency lists for their programs; skill competency lists for at least one program were developed or adopted exclusively by educators, without industry input in about 32% of all public secondary schools that offered at least one listed occupational program; the majority of public secondary schools with listed occupational programs used some criteria to determine whether a student was a program completer, with vocational schools more likely than comprehensive schools to use criteria to determine whether a student was a program completer; vocational schools were more likely than comprehensive schools to prepare their students for a state or industry regulatory exam; and 53% of less-than-four-year postsecondary institutions and 84% of two-year institutions with listed occupational programs offered institutional certificate/diplomas in all their programs.

The volume from which this chapter is taken is indexed at TD/TNC 77.501; chapters 1-5 are indexed from TD/TNC 77.502 to TD/TNC 77.506. Show less

This ‘Stats in brief’ looks at trends in vocational coursetaking among high-school students, examining these trends in light of labour market changes. The report notes that the declines in concentrated vocational coursetaking from 1982 to 1998 were due primarily to declines in the ‘trade and industry’ and ‘business’ program areas. These vocational areas roughly correspond to occupations that have experienced below-average growth rates since the early 1980s. In addition, the four vocational program areas in which a larger proportion of students concentrated their coursetaking in 1998 than in 1982 prepare students for occupations that experienced above-average growth rates. These findings suggest that changes in vocational coursetaking may, at least in part, reflect responses to labour market trends.

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This report, based on data from the 1991, 1995, and 1999 Adult Education Surveys conducted as part of the National Center for Education Statistics' National Household Education Surveys Program, examines trends and patterns of participation of adults by age, sex, race/ethnicity, education level, labour force status, and occupation group. An overview of adult participation in formal learning activities during the 1990s is provided with the focus being on trends in participation over time and patterns of participation in 1999. The study found that: the participation in adult education between 1991 to 1999 had increased for virtually every group of adults examined; participation in specific activities showed signs of some groups being left behind (Hispanics, those with lower levels of education, those with lower status jobs, and those who are employed part-time); all groups have relatively low rates of participation for work-related courses; adults with lower levels of education are less likely to participate in non-work-related courses; and the highly educated and high status groups that have been the traditional beneficiaries of adult education continue to be the main beneficiaries. Show less

This report uses the Adult Education Survey of the 2001 National Household Education Survey Program to examine the extent and nature of participation in work-related education among adults in the labor force. The report provides data on instructional providers, topics studied, employer support, and other employment-related inducements for participation.

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This report uses data from the 1995-96 to 2001 Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study to examine three questions concerning students pursuing postsecondary certificates or associate's degrees in career related fields (referred to here as occupational students): (1) who enters postsecondary occupational education, (2) to what extent do occupational students persist in postsecondary education and attain their credential goals, and (3) what are the labor market outcomes for occupational students who earn credentials? Occupational students were found to be more likely than academic sub-baccalaureate students to be female, Black, older, have lower educational backgrounds, and self-identify as 'enrolled employees' rather than 'working students'. Most of these differences were due to differences between occupational certificate students and the two groups of occupational and academic associate's degree-seeking students. No differences were found in the rates at which occupational and academic sub-baccalaureate students persist in postsecondary education and attain a credential, although occupational students were more likely to 'downgrade' to a postsecondary certificate. Finally, no differences were found in the rates at which occupational completers (those who earned a credential) and non-completers were employed or in their average salary; however, among students who entered a job related to their field of study, average salary increased with the years of education completed.

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This report examines the relationship between educational attainment and the rates at which adults are unemployed or underemployed (working involuntarily part time or involuntarily in a temporary job). Findings show that adults who had not completed high school had higher rates of both unemployment and underemployment, compared to adults with higher levels of educational attainment. Adults with relatively high levels of educational attainment had higher rates of underemployment than unemployment, while the reverse was true for adults with relatively low levels of educational attainment.

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