A new study on earnings returns for short-term workforce education programs in Texas shows a modest but statistically significant increase in pay for participants over the two years following completion, though it varies by duration of programs, field of study and type of training.
Workers earned about $2,000 more per year, on average, within two years of completing short-term training — an increase of 4.5% after adjusting for inflation, according to the study by Peter Riley Bahr of the Strada Institute for the Future of Work and Rooney Columbus of E&E Analytics. The researchers analyzed data from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and the Texas Workforce Commission that included more than 128,000 students, mostly adult learners, who enrolled in noncredit occupational courses at public two-year colleges in Texas between fall 2011 and fall 2014.
The findings, published Tuesday in a peer-reviewed journal of the American Educational Research Association, come out as the U.S. Education Department convenes stakeholders next month to begin diving into the nuts and bolts of implementing the new federal Workforce Pell program, which extends Pell Grant eligibility to certain high-quality, short-term workforce education programs.
A few caveats
Despite the decent bump in pay, there are caveats: the pay increases happen over time, not immediately, and earnings gains begin to level off one to two years after the training. Earnings gains are also associated with the length of training: those in programs exceeding 90 hours tend to have substantially higher gains than students in shorter programs, and programs that exceed 150 hours tend to yield the highest earnings gains.
Gains also differ by the field of study, according to the findings. For example, short-term transportation-focused programs, such as commercial driving, tend to have above-average earnings gains, as do programs in construction and engineering technology fields. Longer programs, such as nursing and protective services, also have higher gains.
However, students in business and marketing or information technology and communications general don’t see earnings gain even five years after training, the researchers said. However, they cautioned that doesn’t mean a program “does not pay off” for students, noting that some programs are designed to help learners complete the training they need to keep professional certification or licenses for their jobs.
“Some noncredit programs help individuals complete ongoing training necessary to keep their jobs, and we generally would not expect to see earnings gains for those types of programs,” Bahr said in a release.
The study also noted gender differences in earnings for completers. Men saw similar gains whether they enrolled in training programs sponsored by employers or open-enrollment programs that students pay for themselves. For women, employer-sponsored programs were associated with significantly higher average gains than open-enrollment options.
“Average gains for women are a fraction of the gains for men, and the gap doesn’t appear to be entirely a result of difference in the fields of study that men and women tend to choose,” Bahr said. “There seems to be distinct gender dynamics at play in noncredit training and related workforce opportunities, which need to be investigated more closely.”
Further opportunities
The report also notes that more can be done to encourage program completers to continue into credit-based degrees or certificate programs, which are missed opportunities for higher earnings gains. To make the transition easier and more appealing, institutions can make the path clearer for learners.
The researchers also encourage workers to do their own research beyond just relying on program marketing. Learners should ask colleges for information about what career opportunities the training will open for them, the certification and licenses they will need for those jobs, wage outcomes for program completers and whether the program is part of a larger sequence of advanced training that they can benefit from, as well as whether the program can count for college credit.
