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Articles by Jeff Strohl
Unfinished Work - CEW Georgetown
At its founding, CEW’s focus on the junctures between education and work was arguably novel. The fact that this focus has become so commonplace in public discussion and policy debate is one marker of CEW’s impact. But we—both CEW and the broader field—have been far less successful in dismantling the inequalities and structural barriers to prosperity our work identifies.
Equity Is an Economic Imperative
At the state level, College Futures Foundation recently asked what the economic impact would be if California achieved its goal of raising the share of adults in the state with a postsecondary credential to 70 percent. The foundation was brave enough to insist this goal should be the target for all demographic groups rather than the average across groups, and CEW partnered with College Futures to estimate the impact of such an ambitious “no group left behind” strategy.
Job Postings Aren’t Jobs
Job postings data have become one of the most widely used sources of real-time labor market information. Researchers, policymakers, and workforce agencies increasingly rely on them to understand employer demand for skills and develop occupational projections and taxonomies. They do so, in part, because vendors have successfully marketed them as providing pinpoint-accurate real-time data. But do those data live up to their promise? Not entirely.
Where Do We Go from Here on Underemployment?
Answering these questions will require additional investments in labor-market and education data. For instance, we need to better map how majors, degrees, and fields of study align with the labor market. Postsecondary institutions need strong labor-market analytics to inform their curricular offerings and map projected demand. Better data will also help us identify how the business cycle—including, as is presently the case, a frozen labor market—affects underemployment.
The next chapter of A Stronger Nation, 2026 webinar
Lumina Foundation’s annual A Stronger Nation webinar returns—and this year features one of the country’s most influential voices on data and trends: Steve Kornacki. This year’s conversation will also explore Lumina’s newly adopted national goal for 2040 and what it signals for the future of education and workforce preparation.
Crossing the Great AI Divide
Technological breakthroughs often lead to structural changes in the labor market. The power loom, the internal combustion engine, the computer—each remade or replaced some once-critical occupations (for instance, who has met a lamplighter?). Yet as painful as these changes can be, new occupations rise from the ashes to replace the old. To some, the specter of AI suggests that the end of human work is on the horizon, and with it, the end of postsecondary education as job preparation.
Looming Skills Shortages Threaten Occupations Critical to Societal Well-Being
The US is facing an imminent crisis: Millions of workers from the baby boom generation will reach retirement age between now and 2032, and there are simply not enough younger workers with equivalent education and training to meet labor-force needs.
Where There Is Smoke, There Is Likely Fire
For months, the news cycle focused on the plight of recent college graduates and growing fears that entry-level workers are increasingly unable to compete with AI in today’s job market. As I mentioned in our last newsletter, recent graduates are struggling more than they have in past years, but there is considerable evidence that young people with college degrees are still doing better than those without.
In a Tough Job Market, Is Grad School the Best Bet? Without Better Data, It’s Hard to Say
Mixed signals are looming over the American economy, perhaps most ominously for those just starting their careers. The overall unemployment rate for recent college graduates is 5.3 percent, up from 4.3 percent in January 2024—leaving many young people disillusioned with the job market. Historically, when employers tighten their belts, recent college graduates may consider whether graduate school is a better option than looking for a job.
Student Loan Debt Is an Overlooked Crisis in Teacher Education
Across the United States, public school districts are grappling with a shortage of teachers. Challenging conditions—including low pay, stressful and even unsafe classroom environments, and a political climate that inspires pessimism about the future of education—have left potential educators wary of entering the field and are pushing veteran teachers out the door. Compounding the issue of low pay is student-loan debt, and in particular, debt for graduate degrees in education.
How hard will colleges work for a diverse class? (opinion)
You have /5 articles left. Sign up for a free account or log in. Douglas Rissing/iStock/Getty Images Plus Fall 2024 has arrived and has brought the first glimpse of selective college enrollments after the Supreme Court’s ban on race-conscious college admissions practices. Those hoping for clarity about how the court’s decision affected colleges will be disappointed: The data thus far are mixed.
The Stories Behind Service Matter - The EvoLLLution
The United States needs a postsecondary system that captures and validates uncounted learning to enable all individuals to earn recognition for what they know and can do. Credential As You Go is working toward that vision, embarking on a movement to inform and facilitate the development and adoption of a nationally recognized incremental credentialing system to improve education and employment outcomes for all learners.
Along Complex Career Pathways, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Micro-Credentials Signal ‘Relevant Competencies Ahead’ - The EvoLLLution
What if there were an approach to learning flexible enough to meet adult learners where they are, rigorous enough to merit the approval of faculty, and relevant enough to meet the latest workforce needs? With the right support, collaboration and application, micro-credentials check all of those boxes, and more.
Making Higher Ed the Well-Recognized Producer of Microcredentials - The EvoLLLution
As the need for alternative credentials increases, institutions need to be the recognized producer of microcredentials to help build credibility and reliability on production. Customized training isn’t new to higher education but recognizing these shorter programs as a credential is a newer concept. As the market demands more alternative credentials, this is higher ed’s opportunity to be the leaders in this space.
The Growing Trend of Microcredentials - The EvoLLLution
Microcredentials present a viable solution for both higher education institutions and employers looking to survive and thrive in a difficult economy. However, successful implementation of microcredentials requires clearly defining them and communicating their value to employers. While the microcredential could present an attractive business solution for the post-secondary sector, is it at risk of over-promising and under-delivering?
Microcredentials Empower Change and Growth - The EvoLLLution
Degree programs are no longer sufficient in supporting student success and meeting industry needs. Microcredentials can do both, affordably and conveniently. As higher education aims to meet the needs of a rapidly changing post-COVID world and workplace, microcredentials are emerging as a quick, compact, targeted way to instill and certify the particular skills that add value to a résumé and empower individuals to move toward their goals.
The Merit Myth: How Our Colleges Favor the Rich and Divide America
August 17, 2020 Anthony Carnevale, Jeff Strohl, Peter Schmidt (New York, New York: The New Press, 2020) Despite the frequently repeated claim that higher education in the United States is a meritocractic system, college is not the great equalizer it's touted to be. Indeed, long-standing inequities in the United States are often reflected in and perpetuated by our institutions of higher education.
How Higher Ed Can Stop Affirmative Action for Rich White People
The Covid-19 pandemic, and the resulting economic crash, has laid bare the race and class injustice in American society. Higher education perpetuated society’s inequalities and divisions by sorting the children of white and wealthy families into well-financed, prestigious institutions, while steering the children of the rest — should they go to college at all — into nonselective institutions too poor to ensure that most of their students graduate.
How Higher Ed Can Stop Affirmative Action for Rich White People
The Covid-19 pandemic, and the resulting economic crash, has laid bare the race and class injustice in American society. Higher education perpetuated society’s inequalities and divisions by sorting the children of white and wealthy families into well-financed, prestigious institutions, while steering the children of the rest — should they go to college at all — into nonselective institutions too poor to ensure that most of their students graduate.
Make 14 the new 12 – Community College Daily
Home Academic Programs By Anthony Carnevale, Peter Schmidt and Jeff Strohl July 2, 2020 Print Editor’s note: The following article is an excerpt from the recently published book The Merit Myth: How Our Colleges Favor the Rich and Divide America(The New Press). It is reprinted with permission. Throughout our nation’s history, we’ve repeatedly raised the bar in defining how much education Americans need. Students are no longer assured a living wage with just a high school education.
Analysis: What Is the Value of a Bachelor’s Degree? The Answer Depends on Where You Live and What You Do
The idea that all postsecondary education on average is good is misleading. The truth is, there’s significant variation in which academic degrees bring workers the most value, and why they do. Research from the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce has long supported the idea that more education tends to be a good investment. But what you study and what job you take are of considerable importance in determining how well, financially, you will be once you settle into a career.
With coronavirus, policy makers have a rare opportunity to pressure top universities to make admissions fairer
Our nation has been left vulnerable to the economic and health crises brought on by coronavirus because of a pre-existing condition: the deep economic and social divide that results from disparities in access to quality higher education. On one side are those born on an elite track who go to top schools; on the other are those who are often tracked into college dropout factories or, even worse, don’t go to college at all.
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