Do Postsecondary Training Programs Respond to Changes in the Labor Market?

Abstract

This paper analyzes whether postsecondary training programs have kept up with shifts in the occupational structure of the labor market over the past decades. I compare long-term trends in the distribution of employment, degrees, and certificates across occupation groupings using data from the US census and from the nation’s largest community college system. I then estimate that an occupation’s share of community college completions grows by approximately half a percentage point for every percentage point increase in its share of employment. I show that this relationship is primarily driven by increases in student demand rather than by colleges expanding capacity.