Alignment of Education and Jobs: Students from B.C. s Certificate and Diploma Programs

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1 APPSO BGS DACSO DEVSO Alignment of Education and Jobs: Students from B.C. s Certificate and Diploma Programs Since ongoing economic prosperity requires a highly skilled workforce, the province s priorities include the alignment of training with s and the education of British Columbians to meet the needs of our evolving economy. Information from BC Student Outcomes surveys can be used to investigate the relationship between post-secondary programs and employment outcomes, answering questions such as the following: How many graduates find program-related employment? What programs are likely to lead to related employment? Do those in program-related s earn more? INFORMATION PAPER Volume 10 No. 1 Spring 2013 ISSN This paper is from a series presenting information on subjects of interest, using data from the BC Student Outcomes surveys. This Information Paper and others are available at outcomes.bcstats.gov. bc.ca/publications/ AboutPublications.aspx. Introduction Recognizing that a highly skilled workforce contributes to economic prosperity, British Columbia is making efforts to focus on the preparation of skilled workers for the future and on the alignment of training with s. Enrolments in B.C. s post-secondary education system have been strong in recent years, and students are being prepared for a labour market that is increasingly likely to require a post-secondary credential. The labour market is best served when graduates are able to find employment related to their education, and some research in this area has centred on the relationship of an employee s specific training to their position, asking if there is a match. Statistics Canada made the following observation: As the demand for skilled labour has increased, so has the proportion of the population with post-secondary credentials. Although both demand and supply have increased, there is no guarantee that the right candidate will be matched with the right. 1 Overview Graduates of Applied programs who have fulltime s were more likely than other former students to have employment related to their education; those with certificates from and Education programs were the most likely to say their work was related to their education. These former students had s that were more likely to have favourable characteristics (e.g., permanent versus temporary) and significantly higher wages. When asked to rate specific elements of their education, graduates of Applied programs who were employed full-time in s they said were very related to their education gave the highest ratings to the aspects of their studies that focussed on teaching valuable employment skills, especially working effectively with others and learning to analyse and think critically. The program content that was rated highest was covering the standards used in the field and presenting topics relevant to the occupation.

2 The Diploma, Associate Degree, and Certificate Student Outcomes (DACSO) Survey provides data that can be used to reveal matches between education and subsequent employment. The majority of former students surveyed in DACSO are employed and are asked the extent to which their is related to the education they received in their recent program of studies. Based on their answers to the question, respondents can be divided into two groups: those who had program-related employment and those who said their employment was unrelated to their studies. This paper begins with an examination of the certificate, diploma and associate degree programs that are likely to lead to related s. The analysis then focusses on the graduates of Applied programs who have full-time employment, to describe their program-related employment, their current occupations, and the elements of their education that were important to them. Data for this paper Data for this paper are from the 2011 Diploma, Associate Degree, and Certificate Student Outcomes (DACSO) Survey. The former students who responded to the survey had completed or nearly completed programs some 9 to 20 months before. There were 14,697 respondents to the 2011 survey, which had a response rate of 55 percent. At the time of the survey, 11,039 respondents (75 percent) were employed. The employed respondents were asked to rate the extent to which their was related to their recent post-secondary program; the ratings on a four-point scale went from very related to not at all related. Two-thirds or 69 percent of employed respondents said their was very or somewhat related to their program; the remaining 31 percent said not very related or not at all related. The opening section of this paper provides percentages based on all employed respondents. Subsequent sections of the paper report on those graduates from Applied programs who have fulltime employment. Of this latter group, 79 percent had program-related employment (n=4,855) and 21 percent (n=1,262) had unrelated employment. What programs and credentials led to program-related employment? For the most part, the former students who had program-related employment had come from Applied programs, rather than Arts and Sciences. Compared with respondents from other programs, former Arts and Sciences students were the least likely to say they had program-related s. Even though they were employed at the time of the survey, over half (57 percent) of former Arts and Sciences students were continuing their studies. Arts and Sciences programs typically lead to further education, while Applied programs are intended to lead to employment in a specific field. 2 Former students from Applied programs were much less likely to be studying; approximately onequarter (24 percent) were taking further education. The percentage of respondents who found programrelated employment varied considerably by program area. Programs in and Education were most likely to lead to program-related employment. Programs in and Education were the most likely to lead to program-related employment Arts and Sciences 35% Business & Management Education Engineering & Human & Social Services Trades Visual & Performing Arts 45% 74% 72% 69% 78% 85% 88% Note: Percentages show respondents from the program area who said their was related to their education; based on all employed respondents. Each program of study is categorized according to the credential type that is awarded for successful completion. For each of the program areas shown above, students may have been either in a diploma or certificate program. Many programs (especially in the Arts and Sciences) offered associate degrees or university transfer (and students are more likely to continue toward a bachelor s degree than enter full-time em- Page 2

3 ployment). Overall, certificate programs are the most likely to lead to program-related employment. Certificate programs were the most likely to result in program-related employment Associate Degree 27% Certificate Diploma Other 67% 71% 76% Notes: Associate Degree includes University Transfer and Other includes advanced diplomas and post-degree certificates. Percentages show respondents with the specified credential who had program-related employment; based on all employed respondents. Focussing just on the Applied program respondents who had related employment, 63 percent had attended a certificate program. 3 Although this percentage varied by program area, many of the certificate holders who had program-related employment came from the Trades,, and Education program areas. The certificate programs in the area included Licensed Practical Nurse and Home /Resident Care Aide, and the certificate programs in Education included Teacher Assistant and Early Childhood Education. Well over half of the respondents with related s had taken certificate programs Program Area Respondents with related s % with certificate Business & Management 1,316 44% Education % Engineering & % 2,014 78% Human & Social Services % Trades 1,291 89% Visual & Performing Arts % Overall 6,845 63% Note: Percentages show respondents from the program area who had taken a certificate program; based on Applied-program respondents with related employment. The respondents who had received graduate status from their institutions were much more likely to say their employment was related to their training. Of respondents from Applied programs, 78 percent of graduates said they had program-related employment, compared with 59 percent of non-graduates. What are the characteristics of program-related employment? The graduates of Applied programs who had program-related employment were likely to have been working full-time when they were surveyed: 83 percent worked full-time, compared with 75 percent of respondents who did not have program-related s. Of the Applied-program graduates who had related employment, there were differences in full-time employment rates by program. Most respondents from Trades (95 percent) and from Engineering & Applied Sciences (93 percent) programs were working fulltime, compared with just over two-thirds (68 percent) of those from Education programs. Former Trades students with program-related employment were the most likely to have been working full-time Business & Management Education Engineering & Human & Social Services Trades Visual & Performing Arts 68% 78% 77% 73% 85% 93% 95% Note: Percentages show respondents from the program area who were working full-time; based on Applied-program graduates with related employment. Examining this subject from another point of view, the graduates of Applied programs who were employed full-time were likely to say their s were related to their education: overall, 79 percent said they had program-related s. By program, however, the percentage varied from 50 to 90 percent: 90 percent of graduates had s related to their education, compared with 50 percent of those from Visual & Performing Arts programs. Page 3

4 The majority of graduates who worked full-time had program-related employment Business & Management Education Engineering & Human & Social Services Trades Visual & Performing Arts 50% 72% 80% 83% 78% 82% 90% Note: Percentages show respondents from the program area who had related employment; based on Applied-program graduates with full-time employment. It is clear that full-time employees were more likely than part-time to say they had program-related employment. A comparison of this chart to the one on page 2 (which presents rates of program-related employment for all employed respondents) shows that for each program area, a higher percentage of full-time employees had s that were related to their training. For graduates of Applied programs who had fulltime work, there were some notable differences in the characteristics of employment, between those who had program-related s and those who did not. Respondents who had program-related employment were more likely to have had one only (80 percent) and it was likely to have been a permanent position (87 percent). Those with related employment were also much more likely to have had a new position (71 percent) at the time of the survey that is, they did not have the same they had while they were studying and they found that position in less time, on average, than those with unrelated s. The s that respondents said were program-related had favourable characteristics Permanent position One only New after studies Found in under 2 months Program-related 55% 57% 50% 71% 87% 78% 80% 76% Note: Percentages show respondents whose had the characteristic listed; based on Applied-program graduates with full-time employment. The percentages of those who found a in less than two months are based on those who did not have the same while studying. In addition to the more favourable characteristics of the s held by those with program-related employment noted above, there was a large difference in the wages reported by those with related s and by those who had unrelated employment. The median hourly wage for those with program-related employment was $20, compared with $15 for those with unrelated employment. This difference persisted whether the was permanent or temporary, new or the one that the respondent had while studying, and whether the respondent had one or two or three s. Respondents with program-related s had significantly higher wages Permanent position Temporary position New Same while studying One only Two or three s $13 $16 $15 $16 $15 $15 $20 $20 $20 $20 $21 $24 Program-related Note: Amounts shown are median hourly wages for respondents with those characteristics; based on Applied-program graduates with full-time employment. Page 4

5 What were the program-related occupations? Similar to the way examining employment characteristics by program of study reveals differences, looking at those s by occupational categories shows significant variation in the percentage of respondents who reported program-related employment. Respondents who worked in and Social Sciences, Education, & Government occupations were the most likely to say their s were related to their programs. Of the respondents working in occupations, 96 percent reported that their s were related to their studies; on the other hand, only 60 percent of the respondents working in Sales & Service reported that their s were program-related. Occupations in or in Social Sciences, Education, & Government are most likely to be related to program of study Art, Culture, Recreation, & Sport 84% Business, Finance, & Administration Natural & Processing, Manufacturing, & Utilities Primary Industry 59% 57% 76% 87% 96% Sales & Service 60% Social Sciences, Education, & 94% Government Trade, Transport, & Equipment 80% Operators Note: Percentages show respondents employed in that group of occupations who said their was related to their education; based on Applied-program graduates with full-time employment. For most occupation groups, differences persisted between those with program-related s and those with unrelated employment. Hourly wage was strongly associated with program-related employment, and for most occupations, there was a significant difference between the earnings of the two groups on average, respondents with program-related s consistently reported higher wages. The greatest gap was in the area of Processing, Manufacturing & Utilities occupations: within this group, the median wage for those in unrelated s was $19 per hour, compared with $27 per hour for those in program-related s. Across occupation groups, respondents with program-related employment reported higher wages Occupation Group Programrelated Art, Culture, Recreation, & Sport $19 $20 Business, Finance, & Administration $16 $19 Occupations $22 $24 Natural & $20 $21 Processing, Manufacturing, & Utilities $19 $27 Primary Industry $24 $24 Sales & Service $12 $17 Social Sciences, Education, & Government $18 $20 Trade, Transport, & Equipment Operators $19 $18 Overall $15 $20 Note: Amounts shown are median hourly wages for each occupation group; based on Applied-program graduates with full-time employment. Did former students with programrelated employment relocate to study or move afterward? All former students were asked if they had relocated from their home community to attend their program of study. Of all respondents, 21 percent indicated that they relocated for their studies. Whether they had program-related employment or not, 22 percent of graduates from Applied programs who had full-time s said they had relocated to study. After completing their studies, 11 percent of Applied program graduates with full-time employment moved from the region where they studied to a new region: 12 percent of those with program-related s moved and 10 percent of those with unrelated employment moved. Although there is little difference in these two overall rates, there were significant differences by region. 4 Those who studied in the Vancouver Island region were not as likely to move after they completed their programs only 7 percent of those with related s moved. On the other hand, 21 percent of the Applied-program graduates with full-time, related employment who had studied in the Interior and Kootenays moved after graduating. Page 5

6 Respondents who studied in the Vancouver Island region were the least likely to move after graduating Interior and Kootenays Lower Mainland Northern BC Vancouver Island 5% 7% 6% 10% 9% Program-related 13% 17% 21% Note: Percentages show respondents who moved out of their study region after graduation; based on Applied-program graduates with full-time employment. Respondents who moved from their study region are those whose location at the time of the survey was in a different region than the region where they studied. Study region was based on the location of the institution, and current region was based on the respondent s postal code at the time of the survey. The movement of graduates in and out of regions after their studies did not substantially alter the overall distribution of respondents at the time of the survey. Distribution of their current locations, by region, paralleled the distribution of respondents across their study regions: the majority of all respondents were in the Lower Mainland, Northern BC had the smallest proportion, and the remaining students were divided almost equally between the other two regions. As well, current regional locations were similar for those with training-related s and those with unrelated s. Over half of the graduates from Applied programs were working full-time in the Lower Mainland 57 percent of those with program-related s and 51 percent of those with unrelated s were in the Lower Mainland. Over half of the graduates with program-related full-time employment were in the Lower Mainland at the time of the survey Interior and Kootenays Lower Mainland Northern BC Vancouver Island 10% 9% 17% 21% 16% 18% Program-related What did they say about their education? 57% 51% Note: Percentages show respondents current location distributed across regions; based on Applied-program graduates with full-time employment. Current region was derived from the respondent s postal code at the time of the survey. Former students with program-related employment seemed to appreciate their education more than respondents with unrelated s did; for example, they were more satisfied and they were more likely to say they had achieved their most important goal for enrolling in their post-secondary program. They were also most likely to say they were very satisfied and had completely met their main objective for enrolling. Respondents with program-related employment met their enrolment goals and were satisfied with their education Satisfied with education 50% 31% Met main goal for enrolling 52% 20% 56% 45% 45% 42% 35% 4% Programrelated 12% Unrelated 6% Programrelated Unrelated Very satisfied with education Satisfied with education Dissatisfied & very dissatisfied Main goal completely met Main goal mostly met Main goal not met Note: Percentages show respondents ratings of their education; based on graduates from Applied programs with full-time employment. Page 6

7 As well, there was a huge difference in how respondents rated the value of the knowledge and skills they gained in their program toward helping them perform their. A two-thirds majority (68 percent) of respondents with program-related s said the knowledge and skills they learned were very useful, compared with a small minority (4 percent) of respondents with unrelated employment. Respondents from programs were the most likely (80 percent) to say the knowledge and skills they learned were very useful for their employment. The percentages from other programs varied, but in all cases, a majority of those with related s found their education very useful. A majority of respondents from each program said the knowledge and skills they learned were very useful for performing their gave to course content covering standards used in the field, covering relevant topics, and being up-to-date were also high. To determine what elements of their education were most important to respondents with training-related employment, the ratings of skills development, of aspects of the program, and of course content were examined for the respondents who said their employment was very related to their training. All of the items were rated using a 5-point scale from very well to very poorly for help with skill development and from very good to very poor for program and course ratings. The items with the highest ratings were those most relevant to employment the highest mean scores were given to the development of the skill to work efectively with others and for the course content covering the standards used in the field. Business & Management Education 57% 71% Respondents whose s were very related to their program gave high ratings to aspects of their education that were relevant to employment Engineering & Human & Social Services Trades Visual & Performing Arts 61% 68% 64% 65% 80% Note: Percentages show respondents from the program area who gave a very useful rating for their education; based on Applied-program graduates with full-time, program-related employment. What elements of their education helped former students get program-related employment? The same pattern of responses was evident in the ratings former students provided for their skill development and selected aspects of their program. The respondents with training-related employment were more likely than others to say their program had helped them (very well) to develop skills. They were also more likely to give higher ratings to aspects of their program, such as the amount of practical experience and the quality of instruction. The ratings they Top-rated skills Work effectively with others 4.36 Analyse & think critically 4.32 Read and comprehend material 4.31 Learn on one's own 4.27 Use tools & equipment 4.25 Resolve issues or problems 4.20 Top program & content ratings Covering standards used in the field 4.34 Covering relevant topics 4.33 Quality of instruction 4.29 Up-to-date 4.23 Amount of practical experience 4.23 Quality of tools & equipment 4.06 Note: Numbers above are respondents ratings shown as the means of 5-point scales; based on Applied-program graduates with full-time employment who said their was very related to their program. All of the top-rated skills above are those that are critical for employment; similarly, the ratings for course content reflect a focus on training for specific occupations. The graduates who gave those ratings are those who achieved success in the labour market they had full-time, program-related s, which were likely to have favourable characteristics and high wages. Page 7

8 Conclusion New entrants to the labour market will have a better chance of finding a good if they have a post-secondary credential from a program that is closely related to the occupation they are seeking. According to the results of the 2011 DACSO Survey, the graduates who were most likely to find employment related to their education were those with certificates from and Education programs. The former students who found s related to their programs, as reported in the survey, were more likely than others to note favourable characteristics for their employment; for example, they were more likely to have only one About the survey and it was likely to be a permanent position. They were also more likely to have a new after their studies and to have found that in less time than those whose employment was unrelated to their education. The biggest difference between program-related and unrelated employment was in reported earnings. For all types of employment and most occupations, those with program-related s had significantly higher wages. The graduates who had related s were likely to say they were very satisfied with their education and they completely achieved their main objective for enrolling in their chosen program. Even more telling, they were much more likely than others to say the knowledge and skills they learned were very useful for performing their s. When asked to rate specific aspects of their education, the respondents who were the most successful at finding program-related work (graduates of Applied programs employed fulltime in s very related to their education) gave the highest ratings to skill development and program content that were related to employment. These results demonstrate the worth of an employability focus for the training of students in certificate and diploma programs. Those graduates who participated in The Diploma, Associate Degree, and Certificate Student Outcomes (DACSO) Survey is one of four annual surveys in the BC Student Outcomes project, which collects information from B.C. s former post-secondary students. The DACSO Survey asks former students from diploma, associate degree, and certificate programs to evaluate their educational experiences and to talk about their employment and further education. The survey is conducted with funding from the Ministry of Advanced Education, Innovation and Technology and from the participating post-secondary institutions. The results of the survey are used by the institutions to improve programs; the Province uses the information for post-secondary policy development, labour market analysis, and accountability. Students, parents, and the general public can access Search BC Post-Secondary Student Survey Results through the BC Student Outcomes website (outcomes.bcstats.gov.bc.ca/sorslite/ SORSLiteHome.aspx) or Education Planner ( to help them make informed post-secondary education choices. For more information on BC Student Outcomes, please see outcomes.bcstats.gov.bc.ca/. programs that taught them both skills and content, and who were able to understand the value of each, were the ones who were the most likely to achieve employment success. It is clear that B.C. post-secondary programs offering education aligned with labour market needs can prepare graduates to meet the challenges of our rapidly evolving economy. Endnotes 1 Yuen, J. (2010). Job education match and mismatch: Wage differentials. April 2010 Perspectives, Statistics Canada Catalogue X. p With the exception of Arts and Sciences, all of the program areas in this paper are Applied. The majority of the respondents from Arts and Sciences programs will go on to complete a baccalaureate, and their eventual labour market outcomes will be captured in the Baccalaureate Graduates Survey. 3 Of the programs taken by all employed respondents, 53 percent had a certificate as the credential type. 4 A respondent s current region is derived from their postal code at the time of the survey. The coding for region is based on BC Development Regions ( bc.ca/statisticsbysubject/ Geography/ReferenceMaps/ DRs.aspx) and grouped into the four regions shown. A respondent s study region is based on the location of the institution they attended. Page 8