Educational outcomes of labor-market linking and job placement for students at public and private 2-year colleges

Abstract

While much research has examined how education influences work outcomes, fewer scholars have questioned whether or how school-labor market relationships might influence educational outcomes. With their rising enrollments and growing occupational programs, 2-year colleges are an increasingly important site of the school-to-work transition. Using interview and survey data from a local sample of 14 public and private 2-year colleges, we describe the employer linkages forged at different types of 2-year colleges, how institutional contexts shape linking activities, and how college-employer links are related to students' efforts at college and confidence about degree completion. Using national longitudinal data (BPS and IPEDS), we test whether the patterns identified in our local sample are reflected nationally, examining whether the availability of job placement services by colleges predicts students' timely degree completion. © 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords

Author Keywords

human capital Educational economics

Index Keywords

human capital labor market educational attainment

Author Affiliations

Institute for Policy Research, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, United States

Funding & Acknowledgements

Russell Sage Foundation, RSF

The authors wish to thank David Neumark for his careful guidance in developing this manuscript; Katherine Hughes, Jennifer Stephan, and several unnamed reviewers for helpful comments on prior drafts; and Regina Deil-Amen and Greg Duncan, respectively, for assistance with qualitative and quantitative methodology. Support for this research was provided by the Russell Sage Foundation, the Spencer Foundation, the Institute for Policy Research at Northwestern University, and a dissertation grant from the Association for Institutional Research.

Spencer Foundation

The authors wish to thank David Neumark for his careful guidance in developing this manuscript; Katherine Hughes, Jennifer Stephan, and several unnamed reviewers for helpful comments on prior drafts; and Regina Deil-Amen and Greg Duncan, respectively, for assistance with qualitative and quantitative methodology. Support for this research was provided by the Russell Sage Foundation, the Spencer Foundation, the Institute for Policy Research at Northwestern University, and a dissertation grant from the Association for Institutional Research.

Northwestern University, NU

The authors wish to thank David Neumark for his careful guidance in developing this manuscript; Katherine Hughes, Jennifer Stephan, and several unnamed reviewers for helpful comments on prior drafts; and Regina Deil-Amen and Greg Duncan, respectively, for assistance with qualitative and quantitative methodology. Support for this research was provided by the Russell Sage Foundation, the Spencer Foundation, the Institute for Policy Research at Northwestern University, and a dissertation grant from the Association for Institutional Research.

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Educational outcomes of labor-market linking and job placement for students at public and private 2-year colleges

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