Cigar
01-28-2015, 01:40 PM
President Obama’s 2016 proposed budget, to be released on Monday, February 2, will include a plan to offer two years of free community college (http://www.whitehouse.gov/photos-and-video/video/2015/01/09/president-obama-announces-free-community-college-plan) to millions of students. Free community college would increase employment, help overcome decades-long wage stagnation, and narrow income inequality in the United States, but only if the President's proposal is enacted by a Congress dominated by small-government conservatives. They are likely to resist both its $60 billion ten-year price tag and the suggestion of further federal government involvement in education. Yet, strong bipartisan approval of the President's last-minute decision (http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/28/us/politics/obama-will-drop-proposal-to-end-529-college-savings-plans.html?_r=0)to give up on his proposal to tax college savings in "529 accounts" suggests there is an appetite for investing in students pursuing higher education. The math underlying the President’s free community college proposal makes clear that it is an investment worth making --- it is direct action to strengthen and expand America’s middle class and heal troubled labor markets.
The starting place for this community college math equation: workers with more education have lower unemployment rates. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, (http://www.bls.gov/emp/ep_table_001.htm) in 2013 workers with a high school diploma had an unemployment rate of 7.5% while workers with associates degrees --- the degrees typically awarded by community colleges --- had an unemployment rate of 5.4%. The difference is almost as great between workers with associates degrees and those who studied in college but did not acquire a degree (“some college”): 5.4% versus 7.0%. College studies pay off some, but they pay off significantly more if you acquire a degree. Workers with bachelor’s degrees had a 4% unemployment rate; so, the higher the degree, the lower the unemployment rate. Since President Obama’s proposal will help more students complete associates degrees and put more students on the road to completing bachelor’s degrees, there is every reason to believe that these students will have better employment outcomes in the labor market.
Unemployment is not the only outcome we should consider. Labor force participation, which measures the percentage of workers employed or actively seeking jobs, is at its lowest level in decades. It has long been true that workers with no high school diploma participate least and workers with bachelor’s degrees or more participate most (see graph here (https://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/graph/?graph_id=215390&category_id=)). But in-between these two groups, workers with some college or an associates degree participate at a meaningfully higher rate than workers with a high school diploma.
Certainly, this difference in labor force participation could be a product of personal circumstances that make it possible to seek work when others cannot. It also could result from higher levels of motivation to find and keep jobs or community college graduates’ sense they have a greater likelihood of success in their job search. It may even result from the positive response associates degree-holders receive when seeking jobs. But taking the unemployment and labor force participation rate together, it is clear that workers with associates degrees are more likely both to seek and to find jobs than workers with less education and those who do not obtain a college degree.
Wages tell a less encouraging story. Again according to BLS, in 2013 (http://www.bls.gov/emp/ep_chart_001.htm) the median weekly earnings of workers with a high school diploma was $651 while for workers with some college it was $727 and for those with associates degrees it was $777. Thus, the return for those with some college studies obtaining a degree is about 7% while the return to workers with high school diplomas of some college studies is around 12%. By comparison, the pay gap in 2013 between workers with associates degrees and those with bachelor’s degrees was a whopping 43%.
These data, and our lived experience, tell a story of occupational segregation. Higher paying jobs go to those with bachelor’s degrees (or higher degrees) while workers with associates degrees compete with high school graduates and workers with some college for lesser paying jobs. The unemployment data suggest that workers with associates degrees frequently win these competitions, and may advance further up the career ladder to higher earnings, but have difficulty breaking into the higher wage jobs without a bachelor’s degree. Their wage ceiling is lower. The labor market and their employers value these workers, but they do not value them nearly as much they values workers with bachelor’s degrees. Nonetheless, after decades of wage stagnation, real wage increases of any kind would be a relief.
Addressing the challenge of giving community college graduates access to higher paying jobs will require encouraging employers to reexamine whether all of their highest paying jobs truly demand a bachelor’s degree. This will take time and a significant culture change among hiring managers, human resources professionals, small business owners, entrepreneurs and other employers. But in the meantime, more community college degrees for more workers will result in better employment outcomes and somewhat higher wages for those workers. Particularly since this proposal seems to be better targeted to benefiting working-class and middle-class families (http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/28/us/politics/obama-will-drop-proposal-to-end-529-college-savings-plans.html?_r=0)than the 529 college savings plans that will seemingly survive this Congress, the math adds up for free community college.
The Artical is in LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/president-obamas-community-college-math-seth-harris?trk=tod-home-art-list-large_0
You'll find the biggest cheerleaders againt higher education are those who where unsucessful or those who never tried. They will fooleshly listen to their Politicians tell them it's not needed, while all the politicians who are telling them that, went to College.
The starting place for this community college math equation: workers with more education have lower unemployment rates. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, (http://www.bls.gov/emp/ep_table_001.htm) in 2013 workers with a high school diploma had an unemployment rate of 7.5% while workers with associates degrees --- the degrees typically awarded by community colleges --- had an unemployment rate of 5.4%. The difference is almost as great between workers with associates degrees and those who studied in college but did not acquire a degree (“some college”): 5.4% versus 7.0%. College studies pay off some, but they pay off significantly more if you acquire a degree. Workers with bachelor’s degrees had a 4% unemployment rate; so, the higher the degree, the lower the unemployment rate. Since President Obama’s proposal will help more students complete associates degrees and put more students on the road to completing bachelor’s degrees, there is every reason to believe that these students will have better employment outcomes in the labor market.
Unemployment is not the only outcome we should consider. Labor force participation, which measures the percentage of workers employed or actively seeking jobs, is at its lowest level in decades. It has long been true that workers with no high school diploma participate least and workers with bachelor’s degrees or more participate most (see graph here (https://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/graph/?graph_id=215390&category_id=)). But in-between these two groups, workers with some college or an associates degree participate at a meaningfully higher rate than workers with a high school diploma.
Certainly, this difference in labor force participation could be a product of personal circumstances that make it possible to seek work when others cannot. It also could result from higher levels of motivation to find and keep jobs or community college graduates’ sense they have a greater likelihood of success in their job search. It may even result from the positive response associates degree-holders receive when seeking jobs. But taking the unemployment and labor force participation rate together, it is clear that workers with associates degrees are more likely both to seek and to find jobs than workers with less education and those who do not obtain a college degree.
Wages tell a less encouraging story. Again according to BLS, in 2013 (http://www.bls.gov/emp/ep_chart_001.htm) the median weekly earnings of workers with a high school diploma was $651 while for workers with some college it was $727 and for those with associates degrees it was $777. Thus, the return for those with some college studies obtaining a degree is about 7% while the return to workers with high school diplomas of some college studies is around 12%. By comparison, the pay gap in 2013 between workers with associates degrees and those with bachelor’s degrees was a whopping 43%.
These data, and our lived experience, tell a story of occupational segregation. Higher paying jobs go to those with bachelor’s degrees (or higher degrees) while workers with associates degrees compete with high school graduates and workers with some college for lesser paying jobs. The unemployment data suggest that workers with associates degrees frequently win these competitions, and may advance further up the career ladder to higher earnings, but have difficulty breaking into the higher wage jobs without a bachelor’s degree. Their wage ceiling is lower. The labor market and their employers value these workers, but they do not value them nearly as much they values workers with bachelor’s degrees. Nonetheless, after decades of wage stagnation, real wage increases of any kind would be a relief.
Addressing the challenge of giving community college graduates access to higher paying jobs will require encouraging employers to reexamine whether all of their highest paying jobs truly demand a bachelor’s degree. This will take time and a significant culture change among hiring managers, human resources professionals, small business owners, entrepreneurs and other employers. But in the meantime, more community college degrees for more workers will result in better employment outcomes and somewhat higher wages for those workers. Particularly since this proposal seems to be better targeted to benefiting working-class and middle-class families (http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/28/us/politics/obama-will-drop-proposal-to-end-529-college-savings-plans.html?_r=0)than the 529 college savings plans that will seemingly survive this Congress, the math adds up for free community college.
The Artical is in LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/president-obamas-community-college-math-seth-harris?trk=tod-home-art-list-large_0
You'll find the biggest cheerleaders againt higher education are those who where unsucessful or those who never tried. They will fooleshly listen to their Politicians tell them it's not needed, while all the politicians who are telling them that, went to College.