Expanded Measures of Education and Their Labor Market Outcomes

Stephanie Ewert, U.S. Census Bureau

The well-established link between educational attainment and socioeconomic outcomes is based on social science research using federal data sources that effectively measure traditional educational credentials that result in a degree. However, with the expanding and changing landscape of the education system and labor market, alternative credentials to traditional degrees with labor market value must be considered when examining social and economic outcomes and inequality therein. This paper analyzes data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), with measures of conventional educational attainment and vocational certificates, as well as new data from the Re-Engineered SIPP field test (SIPP-EHC), with measures of educational certificates and professional certifications and state and industry licenses, to examine how combinations of conventional educational degrees and alternative credentials vary across demographic groups, affect labor market outcomes, and contribute to inequality in labor market outcomes between groups.