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How can colleges and universities better understand and connect with their local economy?
Our work examines the many ways that colleges engage with employers, workforce systems, and economic development entities to align their efforts with the labor market. We study how data can guide these efforts and specific ways to engage such as apprenticeships.
Current Work on Education and Labor Market Connections
Evaluating an Apprenticeship Program in Advanced Manufacturing
The County College of Morris has received a $4 million grant to develop an advanced manufacturing apprenticeship program that will serve 1,600 participants at eight county colleges in New Jersey. The Rutgers Education & Employment Research Center is evaluating the four-year Career Advance project to identify strategies for replicating and expanding the program.
Hidden Innovation Infrastructure: Understanding the Economic Development Role of Technician Ed. in the Changing Future of Work
Technicians are essential to the functioning of the innovation economy, but the important role they play is often unrecognized. This study examines the economic development impact of community college technician education and the Advanced Technological Education program in the context of the changing nature of work.
Past Work on Education and Labor Market Connections
Post-Graduate Earnings, Job Security, and Major Choice Survey
To what extent does labor market information influence students’ earnings expectations and choice of college majors? And how does this vary by socioeconomic background?
The Rutgers Education & Employment Research Center (EERC) explored the issue of accessibility of labor market information and its impact on students’ expectations of future earnings and their choice of major. Based on a survey of 3,000 undergraduates at Rutgers’s three main campuses, the study analyzed the impact of accessing labor market information on the students’ earnings expectations and on their college major choices.
Higher Education Labor Market Alignment Framework
With rising costs of college and concerns about students’ ability to access good jobs, aligning higher education with the labor market is critically important, particularly for low- and middle-income students.
The Rutgers Education & Employment Research Center (EERC) conducted a study on the need for higher education to focus on labor market alignment by reviewing scholarly literature, proposing a working definition for the concept, and identifying guiding principles to inform ongoing research on the issue.
The Equity Role of Community Colleges in Career Preparation
Students enroll in community college primarily to prepare for a good career. Completing a degree can lead students from historically marginalized groups out of poverty and into the middle class.
This keynote address and issue brief presented career development as a central part of the community college equity mission and examined strategies to promote career development.
Skillful Evaluation
Skillful, a nonprofit initiative of the Markle Foundation, works with the nearly 70 percent of people in the United States without a college degree to help them get good jobs based on the skills they have or the skills they can learn.
The Rutgers Education & Employment Research Center (EERC) created an evaluation for Skillful to assess a program launched in Colorado, which allowed the nonprofit to determine how well its initiatives were being implemented and how the project could be improved.
Multi-state Longitudinal Data Exchange Evaluation
Students who move across state lines often have difficulty accessing data about what works in education and employment systems because the information does not transfer from one state to another.
Adult College Completion Project
More than a fifth of adults in the United States have attended college but don’t have degrees. Workers who have completed their degrees have better employment prospects, job stability, and earning power.
This study evaluated the outcomes of the Adult College Completion program, which promotes college completion for clients in workforce centers and assesses the impact of a degree on their employment goals.
Co-location of American Job Centers on Community College Campuses in North Carolina
Community colleges play a critical role in workforce development by offering job training programs and partnerships with the public workforce system.
This study found that locating American Job Centers (AJC) on community college campuses, however, did not improve student outcomes in credential completion, employment, or earnings.
Post-Graduate Earnings, Job Security, and Major Choice Survey
To what extent does labor market information influence students’ earnings expectations and choice of college majors? And how does this vary by socioeconomic background?
The Rutgers Education & Employment Research Center (EERC) explored the issue of accessibility of labor market information and its impact on students’ expectations of future earnings and their choice of major. Based on a survey of 3,000 undergraduates at Rutgers’s three main campuses, the study analyzed the impact of accessing labor market information on the students’ earnings expectations and on their college major choices.
EU Research Study on Vocational Education: International Perspectives on Preparing Technicians for the Future of Work
The changing nature of work requires that the U.S. education system must prepare skilled technicians who can function in an increasingly complex environment using diverse platforms and systems.
Vocational education models in Europe offer one way to explore how to prepare students for the future of work. This research project reviewed European practices in technical education that are replicable in associate degree programs in the United States and developed benchmark models that prepare students for the changing workplace.
Using Labor Market Information to Improve Program and Credential Quality
Higher educational institutions, from community colleges to universities, are increasingly using labor market information to ensure their programs and credentials align with economic trends. This project seeks to understand the many possible ways these institutions are utilizing labor market information.
