Workforce Results Matter: The Critical Role of Employment Outcome Data in Improving Transparency

“This paper focuses on the need for better information about post-graduation outcomes of postsecondary education and training, with a particular focus on workforce results. Workforce results include employment-related outcomes, such as post-graduation employment rates and earnings levels. Survey research and other evidence reviewed below shows that consumers are keenly interested in these outcomes. This paper suggests the types of employment measures and data that would help meet this demand for better information and describes recent progress by states in producing more comprehensive and consistent information about labor market results” (p.1).

(Abstractor: Author)

Full publication title: Workforce Results Matter: The Critical Role of Employment Outcome Data in Improving Transparency of Postsecondary Education and Training

This report shares three examples of states that “have made progress in producing information on the workforce results of postsecondary education and training…Policymakers can learn from the hard-won experience of states and institutions that have started down the path of reporting workforce results for a variety of education and training programs” (p.6). • New Jersey’s Consumer Report Card, otherwise known as the New Jersey Training Opportunities (NJTopps.org), “provides information on occupational training programs in the state. The website is operated by the state’s Department of Labor and Workforce Development and Employment & Training Commission, in collaboration with the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University” (p.7). Apart from displaying aggregate information on “employment rates, retention rates, and average earnings at six months, one year, and two years after graduation” about former program participants, New Jersey has state laws that require all “training programs that receive any state or federal workforce funding” to submit records for all of their students (p.7). • “California’s community college system recently created two online tools that show in-state employment outcomes for graduates, based on data obtained from the state’s UI wage records. The salary surfer tool aims to help students and families as they make decisions about investing time and resources in postsecondary education…The college wage tracker displays average wages not just by program area, but also by specific college. This site shows wages at three years after graduation. Users can compare earnings for the same program (e.g., associate’s degree in accounting) offered by different schools or compare earnings for different programs at the same schools” (p.7). • “Seven states (Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Minnesota, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia) have partnered with College Measures to calculate and publish average earnings for graduates of education and training programs. College Measures, a joint venture of the American Institutes for Research and Matrix Knowledge Group, works with states to analyze earnings for students who graduate from certificate and degree programs at two- and four-year colleges. Earlier this year, College Measures released a new tool called My Future TX, which is designed to help high school students select a college” (p.7). (Abstractor: Author and Website Staff)

• Last Updated:
• Created:
• Resource Publication Date: 2014
• Author(s): Harmon, Tim; Ridley, Neil; and Zinn, Rachel
• Organizational Author(s): Center for Postsecondary and Economic Success at the Center for Law and Social Policy, Inc. (CLASP)
• Funding Source: Funding source not identified
• Resource Availability: Publicly available
• Posted by: Wesley Peterson
• Posted in: Workforce System Strategies