Occupational credentials provide an additional - and, at times, alternative - path other than traditional academic degrees for individuals to increase productivity and demonstrate their abilities and qualifications to employers. In the United States, these credentials typically take the form of licenses and certifications. Although a critical part of the workforce landscape, the literature on the returns to credentials is inadequate, with prior research typically relying on Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regressions which do not sufficiently control for selection. Using questions that identify credential receipt from the 2015 and 2016 United States' Current Population Surveys, we construct an instrumental variable of local peer influence using the within-labor market credential rate of individuals sharing the same sociodemographic characteristics, while controlling for the same group's average wages and a suite of demographic and geographic controls. We use this instrument in a marginal treatment effects estimator, which allows for estimation of the average treatment effect and determines the direction of selection, and we estimate the effects of credentials on labor market outcomes. We find large, meaningful returns in the form of increased probability of individual employment, an effect which is concentrated primarily among women. The effect of having a credential on log wages is higher for those in the sub-baccalaureate labor market, suggesting the potential role of occupational credentials as an alternative path to marketable human capital and a signal of skills in the absence of a bachelor's degree. © 2022 Matthew D. Baird et al., published by Sciendo.

Using data on a mid-sized community college in northeast Ohio as a case study, we examine patterns of enrollment in petroleum technology credential programs and labor market returns to those credentials. The enrollment analysis yields mixed results. Strong industry conditions represented by an increase in oil prices is associated with a decline in program enrollment; however, higher wages for petroleum workers is associated with increased program enrollment. Earning analyses were unambiguous: Obtaining a certificate or an associate's degree was associated with outsized quarterly earnings returns of $2,900 and $5,500, respectively. This study suggests that partnerships that align subbaccalaureate postsecondary education to the needs of local labor markets may result in occupational credentials with substantially larger returns than those observed in the literature.

The challenge of connecting employers and educators to collaboratively plan for training future workers is an enduring one -- particularly for jobs that are rapidly changing because of technological advancements. This report addresses this challenge as it pertains to employers and educators in the oil and natural gas industry located in and around the Utica and Marcellus shales. The combination of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing to tap natural gas has resulted in the Utica and Marcellus shales becoming major sources of natural gas supply within the United States and are predicted to bring significant long-term economic benefits to the tristate region of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. To inform policy decisions on how best to expand and sustain the pool of workers with knowledge and skills needed by oil and natural gas employers in the tristate region, this report summarizes the findings from surveys administered to the region's oil and gas employers and education providers. We found that basic cross-cutting skills -- such as time management, speaking, and writing -- and knowledge of business operations (including sales and marketing) are reported by employers as essential for their workers to competently perform in high-priority occupations. However, these basic skills tend not to be emphasized in local postsecondary degree programs that support the oil and natural gas industry. We also found a clear lack of collaboration and partnerships between oil and gas companies and education providers across the region, with colleges and employers each pointing to the other's unwillingness as the source for lack of partnerships or collaboration. [To view the brief, "How Educators and Employers Can Align Efforts to Fill Middle-Skills STEM Jobs," see ED594813.]