Young worker participation in post-school education and training (EXCERPT), Monthly Labor Review Online, June 1998

Young worker participation in post-school education and training

Joseph E. Hight

The level of formal education attained by U.S. workers increased substantially during the 1970s and 1980s.¹ Over the same period, real (inflation-adjusted) earnings declined for many workers,² prompting some analysts to focus on the methods by which workers augment their skills once they have completed full-time schooling.³Inquiry into the issue, however, has been hampered by a relative lack of data.⁴

Burt Barnow and others review most of the existing data that have been used to look at skill development after full-time schooling has ceased.⁵ Among these data, the 1991 National Household Education Survey (NHES) has been perhaps the least used.⁶ First conducted in 1991, the NHES is a relatively new survey designed to address a wide range of education-related issues. Because it provides information not obtained in other major surveys (for example, detailed information is obtained about the kind of training taken, reasons for taking it, and whether or not it was required by the employer), the NHES offers an additional data source for researchers, policy analysts, and others interested in the educational activities of the U.S. population.⁷
This article uses data from the 1991 NHES (Adult Education component) to provide a picture of the extent to which young workers (17 to 35 years) who are not currently enrolled in school full time participate in part-time education and training activities. Respondents were grouped by age and education level to examine how much participation in such activities varies by these characteristics. Participation rates are compared across groups classified according to the amount of formal education completed. Comparisons also are made of participation in adult education activities across age cohorts.

Much like in the earlier studies, the NHES data show that participation in part-time adult education activities has been increasing and that young workers with higher levels of formal education are more likely to participate in such activities (including employment-related training). The discrepancy is particularly great between those with at least some college education and those with only a high school diploma or less. If this discrepancy became greater during the 1980s, it could be a contributing factor to the increase in the relative earnings of more highly educated workers during the period.⁸

The first section of the article briefly describes the 1991 NHES and the sample used in the analysis. Subsequent sections include the following: a description of the data as it is organized by level of formal education and age; an analysis of the data looking at both those who participated in part-time adult education and training activities in the 12 months prior to the survey, as well as those who had done so at any time since completing their formal schooling; and finally, the results of this study are compared with those of earlier studies that used the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) and the Current Population Survey (CPS).

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Footnotes

1 See Alan Eck, "Job-related education and training: their impact on earnings," Monthly Labor Review, October 1993, pp. 21–38. See also Labor Force Statistics Derived From the Current Population Survey, 1948–87, Bulletin 2307 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1988), table C-22, pp. 844–45. Although data on educational attainment of the labor force are available only from 1970, data on the education level of the population are available from 1940 and clearly show an increasing trend, suggesting that the labor force also has become more educated since 1940. See Robert Kominski and Andrea Adams, Educational Attainment in the United States: March 1993 and 1992, Current Population Reports, P20-476 (Bureau of the Census, 1994), table 17, pp. 93–95.

2 See John Bound and George Johnson, "Changes in the Structure of Wages in the 1980s: An Evaluation of Alternative Explanations," American Economic Review, June 1992, pp. 371–92. See also Handbook of Labor Statistics, Bulletin 2340 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1989), table 85, p. 320, for historical average weekly earnings in current and constant (inflation-adjusted) dollars.

3 For examples, see Lisa M. Lynch, ed., Training and the Private Sector: International Comparisons (Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1994); Jonathan R. Veum, "Training among young adults: who, what kind, and for how long?" Monthly Labor Review, August 1993, pp. 27–32; and John Bishop, Employer Training & Skill Shortages: A Review of the State of Knowledge, working paper 91–32 (Ithaca, NY, Cornell University, New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Center for Advanced Human Resource Studies, 1991).

4 For a comprehensive statement on data needs, see Lisa M. Lynch, "A Needs Analysis of Training Data: What Do We Want, What Do We Have, Can We Ever Get It?" (Mimeo., Tufts University, 1995).

5 Burt Barnow, Linda Giannarelli, and Sharon Long, Training Provided by Private Sector Employers, report prepared for the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Policy, U.S. Department of Labor (Washington, DC, The Urban Institute, May 1996).

6 For an example of an analysis that does use the 1991 NHES and reports similar findings to those presented here, see Teresita L. Chan Kopka and Samuel S. Peng, Adult Education: Employment-Related Training, NCES Report 94–471 (U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, May 1994).

7 For a brief description of the NHES, see National Household Education Survey: An Overview, NCES Report 98-246 (U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, May 1998); also, Roslyn Korb, Kathryn Chandler, and Jerry West, Adult Education Profile for 1990–91, NCES Report 91–222 (U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, September 1991). For a more comprehensive report on the survey, see An Overview of the National Household Education Survey: 1991, 1993, 1995, 1996, NCES Report 97–448 (U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, May 1997).

8 As reported by many researchers, including Bound and Johnson, in "Structure of Wages," 1992.

Related Monthly Labor Review articles
Employer-provided training: results from a new survey. May 1995.

Job-related education and training: their impact on earnings. October 1993.
Training among young adults: who, what kind, and for how long? August 1993.

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