Postsecondary education and the sub-baccalaureate labor market: Corrections and extensions

This paper presents results based on corrections to the data — the National Longitudinal Study of the Class of 1972 (NLS72) — used in two earlier papers on the effects of education in sub-baccalaureate labor markets. The corrected results confirm most of the earlier results except that, for men, the effects of vocational Associate degrees are insignificant while the effects of vocational credits earned are significant — confirming that under some circumstances there are economic benefits to small amounts of community college without earning degrees. Other corrected results confirm that those levels of education with positive returns seem to act as signals of ability. Finally, some extensions using the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) data are presented, generally confirming the variation in returns within the sub-baccalaureate labor market and the value of completing credentials rather than incomplete programs.