Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce Reports

Nursing: Can It Remain a Source of Upward Mobility Amidst Healthcare Turmoil? finds that as the healthcare debate continues, 160,000 nursing jobs could be in jeopardy. The report also reveals that education is increasingly key to success in the nursing field.

There are currently 30 million good jobs in the U.S. that pay well without a Bachelor’s degree (B.A.). These good jobs have a median salary of $55,000. This report shows that good jobs continue to grow, but they are changing from traditional blue-collar industries to skilled-services industries. A gain of 4 million good jobs in skilled-services industries, such as financial services and health services, has more than offset the 2.8 million good jobs lost in manufacturing.

This report finds that graduates from University of Texas System institutions out earn other bachelor’s degree holders not just in Texas but across the nation, demonstrating that a University of Texas education is a worthwhile investment in the future.

Career Pathways: Five Ways to Connect College and Careers posits that integrating education and workforce data will go a long way in removing the guesswork for individuals navigating the college and career maze. A number of states have started to leverage integrated education and workforce data by developing publicly available information tools in these five areas:

    Education Projections, Business Expansion, and Workforce Quality
    Program Alignment with Labor Market Demand
    Curriculum Alignment with Workforce Requirements
    Counseling and Career Pathways
    Job Placement and Skills Gap Analysis

The jobs recovery deepens the economic and political divide between workers with and without a college education. America’s Divided America: College Haves and Have-Nots finds that over 95% of the jobs created in the recovery have gone to those with education beyond a high school education. The report also finds:

•     For the first time, college graduates make up a larger share of the workforce than workers with a high school diploma or less.
•     Out of the jobs created in the recovery, 8.4 million have gone to those with a bachelor’s degree or higher, while high school jobs only grew by 80,000.
•     Occupational and industry shifts have been major drivers of change in the labor market.
•     The recovery added primarily managerial and professional jobs.

Earnings vary greatly among college majors. While college access has increased among African Americans, they are overrepresented in majors that lead to low-paying jobs. African Americans: College Majors and Earnings shows that African Americans, who represent 12 percent of the U.S. population, are underrepresented in the number of college majors associated with the fastest growing, highest-paying occupations.

Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce, “African Americans: College Majors and Earnings.”

The economy continues to add jobs at a steady pace and the Federal Reserve Board is considering its first interest rates hike since the beginning of the recession. Six Million Missing Jobs: The Lingering Pain of the Great Recession shows that the effects of the Great Recession still linger in the form of 6.4 million jobs that were not created, including 3 million college jobs.

The U.S. Department of Education’s College Scorecard is a web tool allowing users to access an array of information about the quality of colleges and universities throughout the country. It shows how much students earn 10 years after enrolling, which helps them evaluate institutions and decide how much debt to assume. Ranking Your College: Where You Go and What You Make ranks colleges and universities strictly on earnings, but then tests how sensitive the ranking of a university is when adjustments are made to earnings. The data attempts to help answer several questions: How important is student academic preparation? How much are average earnings skewed by major choice and by the selection of majors available at a particular university? What is the likelihood of graduate degree attainment?

Learning While Earning: The New Normal finds that over the last 25 years, more than 70 percent of college students have been working while enrolled. These 14 million college students face the challenge of balancing work, school and other life priorities. The report explores these working learners and finds that students can’t work their way through college anymore to offset debt. It also identifies several policy changes that stand to help these students succeed.

Majors are not perfectly aligned with occupations, but they do determine lifetime earnings. Today a college education is the gateway to the middle class. Hispanics who have not had access to economic resources over generations receive the most benefit from earning a Bachelor’s degree as their lifetime earnings increases.

Las carreras universitarias no están perfectamente vinculadas a las ocupaciones, pero sí determinan ingresos a lo largo de la vida. Hoy una educación universitaria es la puerta de entrada a la clase media. Los hispanos que no han tenido acceso a recursos económicos a través de generaciones reciben el mayor beneficio económico obteniendo una licenciatura, ya que sus ingresos a lo largo de la vida incrementan.

The Economic Value of College Majors uses Census Data to analyze wages for 137 college majors to detail the most popular college majors, the majors that are most likely to lead to an advanced degree, and the economic benefit of earning an advanced degree by undergraduate major.

State Online College Job Market: Ranking the States ranks the states by how many job openings there are per college-educated workers overall and within industries and career fields.