Research That Shows How Career Education Programs Align With Regional Job Markets
WestEd’s Center for Economic Mobility found that community and technical colleges can build stronger pathways to jobs if they align their career and technical education programs with local labor market demand and adapt them to regional economic conditions.
The Challenge
New federal rules require postsecondary institutions to make sure their career and technical education (CTE) programs match local labor market demand. But many institutions don’t know the best way to do this.
To effectively connect programs with workforce needs, colleges need to understand the following:
- how local labor market conditions influence student enrollment patterns and program completion rates
- what helps different types of students succeed in CTE programs
- how to regularly update programs when employer needs change
- best practices for creating CTE programs that work for both traditional college students and adult learners
- how to use data to make smart decisions about which programs to offer and where to spend resources
How We’re Taking Action
WestEd’s Center for Economic Mobility and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, are collaborating with the Florida Department of Education to better understand how community and technical colleges align their CTE programming to the labor market.
This research study, which is part of the Accelerating Recovery Research in Community Colleges Network, is designed to answer the following questions:
- To what extent can institutional factors and the demand for CTE jobs in the labor market predict students’ CTE course-taking, concentration, and award completion?
- How do community and technical colleges develop, offer, and update market-aligned CTE programs of study?
Leveraging information from administrative data, labor market information, and qualitative research with college practitioners, we learned the following:
- Labor market demand significantly influences CTE enrollment, with students gravitating toward programs in high-demand fields like healthcare and information technology.
- Post-pandemic recovery patterns vary considerably by CTE field, with some sectors showing robust growth while others continue to lag.
- Colleges that actively monitor local employer needs and adjust programs accordingly see better student completion and employment outcomes.
- Institutional factors such as program size, resources, and industry partnerships play crucial roles in CTE student success.
- Market-aligned programs require continuous adaptation and strong relationships with regional employers.
Colleges can take advantage of these findings by establishing systematic processes for labor market analysis, developing stronger employer partnerships, creating flexible program structures that can adapt to changing demands, and using data-driven approaches to guide program development and resource allocation.