"The Characteristics of Sub-Baccalaureate Labor Markets" section describes some characteristics of local sub-baccalaureate labor markets, drawing on interviews with both providers of education and training and those with employers. These characteristics differentiate the sub-baccalaureate market from that for the professionals, managers, and technical specialists who typically have baccalaureate and advanced degrees.
"The Providers of Education and Their Connection to Employers" section concentrates on providers of education and training, describing their students and offerings and examining their various connections to employers.
The "Employers in the Sub-Baccalaureate Labor Market" section emphasizes employers, especially the skills they require of their employees, the hiring and promotion criteria they use, their relations with education providers, and some emerging trends in employment.
The "How Well Do Sub-Baccalaureate Labor Markets Work?" section summarizes the evidence about how well sub-baccalaureate labor markets work--particularly for students who seek entry (or re-entry) into employment and for employers. In addition, a crucial question is how responsive the institutions of the sub-baccalaureate labor market are to changes, particularly those taking place as a result of shifting technologies, new forms of work organization, international competition and sectoral shifts, and the other changes that have been affecting our economy as a whole.
Finally, we present a series of recommendations in the "How Well Do Sub-Baccalaureate Labor Markets Work?" section. Some practices in occupationally oriented institutions--and their connections to employers in particular--are weak and in need of reform. It is therefore relatively easy to identify practices that could be changed--by local administrators as well as state and federal policymakers--to make these institutions more responsive. It is equally clear, however, that employers bear substantial responsibility for some problems we identify. Since employers can undermine any educational reform by the incentives and disincentives they create in employment policies, their participation is crucial to reconstructing the education and training system. Here the problem of reform is more difficult since there are relatively few mechanisms by which public policy can affect employment practices. We therefore summarize a series of problems caused by employers and their employment practices and some tentative ways to address them as a way to open the difficult question of what responsibilities employers should bear in order to improve the operation of sub-baccalaureate labor markets.