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Evidence from unexpected temporary school closures and reduced instruction time suggests school closures will reduce educational achievement, both in the short and long term. Children from disadvantaged backgrounds are likely to be affected more than others by school closures, with fewer family resources and less access to online learning resources to offset lost instruction time. In England, the total cost of the resources lost in each week of state school closure is more than £1 billion. Educational deficits from time lost to school shutdowns can be made up with additional hours of teaching when schools reopen, though schools might need to put back more hours than were lost and it may not be feasible to do this within the traditional school year. Compensating lost instruction time through additional resources, without additional hours, is likely to be even more expensive.

The Great Recession was the most severe economic downturn in the United States since the Great Depression. Using newly available population-level achievement data from the Stanford Education Data Archive (SEDA), we estimate the impact of the Great Recession on the math and English language arts (ELA) achievement of all grade 3-8 students in the United States. Employing a difference-in-differences strategy that leverages both cross-district variation in the economic shock of the recession and within-district, cross-cohort variation in school-age years of exposure to the recession, we find that the onset of the Great Recession significantly reduced student math and ELA achievement. Moreover, the recessionary effect on student achievement was concentrated among school districts serving more economically disadvantaged and minority students, indicating that the adverse effects of the recession were not distributed equally among the population of U.S. students. We also find that the academic impact of the recession was more severe for students who were older at the time of first exposure to the recession, compared to their younger counterparts. Finally, the recession's effects on student achievement were concentrated in districts with the largest reductions in teacher personnel, providing evidence that the effects we observe are driven, in part, by the recession's negative effects on school resources. We discuss the implications of and potential policy responses to economic shocks that adversely affect student achievement and widen educational inequality.

Understanding the return on investment (ROI) in VET provides governments with information on the performance of the system and justification for public expenditure. It can help enterprises and individuals to measure productivity improvement in firms or to determine increases in the employability of individuals following training investment. However, the measurement of ROI is not straightforward. This report introduces a conceptual framework for defining what is involved in the ROI calculation and provides a guide to what type of information and data are required to calculate the returns to training for government, employers and individuals.

Aside from effects on nearby property values, research is sparse on how foreclosures may generate negative externalities. Employing a unique dataset that matches individual student records from Boston Public Schools--including test scores, demographics, home address moves, and school changes--with real estate records indicating whether the student lived at an address involved in foreclosure, we investigate the degree to which the test scores of students attending high-foreclosure schools suffer, even among students not directly experiencing foreclosure. We also explore the impact on individual test scores of school-level (by grade and year) student mobility--that is, inflows of new students to a school during the school year--including mobility induced by residential moves (in some cases caused by foreclosures) and mobility arising for other reasons. We find fairly robust evidence that higher student mobility at a school, induced by residential moves, imposes significant negative effects on test scores of students at the receiving school. Beyond this channel, school-level foreclosure prevalence does not appear to generate externalities. Since we also find that residential-move-induced school changes appear to harm the outcomes of the school-changers themselves, policies that seek to limit such changes within the academic year may uniformly raise test scores, at least in the short run. The following are appended: (1) Math Test Score Regressions, (2) ELA Test Score Regressions; and 14 tables.

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) are viewed as fundamental elements in the preparation of our next generation. This is evidenced by President Obama's goal of "moving our nation from the middle to the top of the pack in math and science education" and his focus on (a) hiring additional STEM teachers; (b) enhancing STEM literacy so students can think critically in key subjects; (c) improving the quality of instruction to help U.S. students perform competitively with those in other nations; and (d) expanding STEM education and career opportunities for women, minorities, and other underrepresented groups (The White House, 2010). To begin laying this foundation for students as they compete in the 21st century economy, educators and decision makers must continue to increase their understanding of various STEM education opportunities. They must also realize the need to establish support systems for diverse learners as they relate to STEM education, while at the same time recognize the economic impact of not moving in this direction. However, before this journey can begin, a deeper understanding of STEM and a workable definition must be established. The components of STEM are discussed in this brief following descriptions of the procedure by which resources were selected for this paper and the limitations of this paper. Summaries of STEM education initiatives for the states of Georgia, South Carolina, and Texas as well as contact information for individuals in the state departments of education that may provide additional information is included.

Historically, waves of new technologies have brought Americans higher standards of living. Electrical service and hot and cold running water, for example, were once luxuries; now their absence makes a home substandard. Today, technologies for accessing the Internet are diffusing at an even faster rate than those earlier innovations once did, bringing with them commensurate transformations of Americans' way of life. Technologies that increase the speed at which data can be transmitted have had powerful effects. Most importantly, they have transformed the Internet from a tool used by a narrow group of academics and technicians into a means of interaction used by a large majority of Americans. However, Americans have not universally benefitted from better Internet access. Geography, especially the divide between rural and urban America, determines how much some Americans can benefit from the Internet. Networks have not been as extensively developed in rural areas as in urban areas. Some people in rural America still have dial-up as their best available, affordable technology, a technology that offers five percent of the capacity for what the FCC has said is the broadband threshold. Others have service that reaches the broadband level, but still does not offer the "lightning-fast" speeds advertised by Internet service providers in urban areas. Accordingly, the nation faces a "broadband gap," not only with regard to the lack of access in rural areas to service that meets the broadband threshold, but also with regard to the lack of availability of faster service between urban and rural America. This report identifies opportunity costs that arise from this gap. These costs exist today, but the pace at which data transmission capability is growing means that the inequality between the technology being newly deployed and the technology that was deployed a decade or more ago is increasing. Networks that connect research institutions in the United States can move 100,000 times more data per unit of time than the dial-up connections that some Americans still must use. The technology gap is not a fixed deficit that once filled, stays filled. The technology gap will be larger--much larger--in the future, along with the information and technology gap, unless significant action is taken to overcome it. (Contains 2 figures, 1 table, and 19 footnotes.)

During the 2009-10 academic year international students generated more than $18.8 billion in net income into the US economy. California alone had nearly 100,000 international students with an economic impact of nearly $3.0 billion. In this paper, we outline a strategy for the San Francisco/Bay Area to double the number of international students enrolled in local colleges and universities in ten years or less, generating a total direct economic impact of an additional $1 billion a year into the regional economy. The US retains a huge market advantage for attracting foreign students. Within the US, the San Francisco/Bay Area is particularly attractive and could prevail as an extraordinary global talent magnet, if only policymakers and higher education leaders better understood this and formulated strategies to tap the global demand for higher education. Ultimately, all globalism is local. We propose that the San Francisco/Bay Area, a region with a group of stellar universities and colleges, should reimagine itself as a Global Higher Education Hub to meet national and regional economic needs, as well as the thirst of a growing world population for high-quality tertiary education. Other parts of the world have already developed their version of the higher education hub idea. The major difference in our proposed Californian version is that foreign competitors seek to attract foreign universities to help build enrollment and program capacity at home, and are funded almost solely by significant government subsidies. Our model builds capacity, but is focused on attracting the world's talent and generating additional income to existing public and private colleges and universities. Doubling international enrollment from 30,000 to 60,000 students in ten years or less will require expanding regional enrollment capacity as part of a strategy to ensure access to native students, and as part of a scheme to attract a new generation of faculty and researchers to the Bay Area and California. International students would need to pay higher then the full cost of their education, helping to subsidize domestic students and college and university programs. The result would be a San Francisco/Bay Area Global Higher Education Hub--a self-reinforcing knowledge ecosystem that is internationally attractive, socially beneficial, and economically viable. We offer a path for analyzing the feasibility of this Global Higher Education Hub, including the steps necessary to engage the private sector and local government to help create enrollment capacity and academic programs, a discussion of a financial model, possible marketing strategies, and for developing shared facilities and services. This initiative will require most Bay Area colleges and universities, including UC Berkeley and Stanford University, to collaborate. By providing a leadership role, Berkeley and Stanford would help brand the hub idea internationally, provide leadership in shaping direct and indirect economic returns of the SF/Bay area higher education hub, while also gaining from the increased international attractiveness of the region and the use of shared facilities. It is about the money. But it is also about establishing closer ties with the regional universities and colleges, business interests and local governments, enhancing the quality and reputation of our universities and colleges, building enrollment capacity for native students, integrating international perspectives into the activities and learning of students and faculty, and broadening the opportunity for international collaborations. It is about solidifying the Bay Area as a global talent magnet, one that is even more culturally diverse, even more innovative, and that continues to attract talent from throughout the world. We conclude the paper by suggesting that a regionally based knowledge hub would also be a viable strategy for a select group of other urban areas of the US. Appended are: (1) Examples of Higher Education Hubs; and (2) The Elements of a Hub Cost and Benefits Model. (Contains 7 tables, 5 figures and 37 endnotes.)

This background paper is intended to serve as a companion to the Center on Education Policy report, "Get the Federal Government Out of Education? That Wasn't the Founding Fathers' Vision." That report discusses the historical foundations and current purposes of the federal role in education. This paper goes into more detail about an issue mentioned briefly in the other report--the financial benefits that education incurs from special federal tax provisions for "individual" taxpayers, particularly the deduction for state and local taxes. Although federal "corporate" tax provisions also affect education, they are beyond the scope of this paper. This paper presents a summary of key findings. Following the key findings is a broad overview of all the special tax provisions for individuals that benefit any level of education and the estimated amount of benefits from each provision. The subsequent sections, which comprise the bulk of the paper, analyze the impact of state and local tax deductibility on public K-12 education. Key findings include: (1) Special tax provisions indirectly subsidize all levels of education; (2) Public K-12 education receives benefits worth billions of dollars through the deductibility of state and local taxes; (3) The federal deduction for state and local taxes has a greater impact in some states than in others; and (4) The federal deduction for state and local taxes appears to maximize the ability of states and localities to raise revenues for public K-12 education. (Contains 3 tables and 3 footnotes.) [For the companion report, "Get the Federal Government out of Education? That Wasn't the Founding Fathers' Vision," see ED518386.]

This paper provides initial reflections on the impact of the economic crisis on education across the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) area by analysing the OECD educationtoday crisis survey responses of June 2009. It first looks at the impact of the crisis on education demand and participation, after which the focus turns to the supply side and education financing. The paper suggests that while the education sector appeared to experience increased demand and benefit from growing governmental financing in several OECD countries in June 2009, the crisis may have hidden negative effects particularly on decentralised service delivery and private involvement in education. (Contains 3 boxes and 1 footnote.)

This report provides an overview and discussion of the past decade of academic evidence on the causal effects of resources in schooling on students' outcomes. Early evidence lacked good strategies for estimating the effects of schools resources, leading many people to conclude that spending more on schools had no effect. More recent evidence using better research designs finds that resources do matter, but the range of estimates of the impacts is quite wide. The review devotes special attention to differences across the early years, primary and secondary phases. Theoretical work has indicated that interventions early in a child's life may be more productive than interventions later on. However, although there are more examples of good quality studies on primary schooling, the existing body of empirical work does not lead to a conclusive case in favour of early interventions. Three appendices present: (1) Differences in characteristics between high and low-resource schools; (2) Benchmarking and Comparing the Size and Strength of Effects Across Different Studies; and (3) An illustration of the theoretical model (one in which events in one period depend on events in previous periods) used by Nobel-laureate, James Heckman in his argument for the efficacy of early investment in children over investment at a later stage. [This work was commissioned by Ofsted as part of the "Access and Achievement in Education--20 Years On" project.]

Apprenticeships have a very long history in Australia, building on the traditions of the medieval guilds. The essence of the apprenticeship is the contract of training--a legal contract between an individual, an employer and a training provider. The defining characteristic is the combination of employment and training. The purpose of this paper is to describe what we know about apprenticeships and traineeships, with a view to assessing the likely impact of the current economic downturn on them. A table presenting the apprentice and trainee commencements is appended. (Contains 4 tables, 13 figures, and 7 footnotes.) [Funding for this paper was provided through the Australian Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations.]

Economic downturns have a particularly strong impact upon new entrants to the labour market. These can include recently arrived migrants and refugees, women returning to the labour force after a period of child rearing, and youth. This paper reflects on the impact of the recent financial crisis on particular groups in Australian society and comments on whether the VET sector is well placed to meet the challenges of the recovery. An overview accompanies this paper. (Contains 7 tables, 1 figure, and 10 footnotes.)

Like most everyone, schools have been forced to tighten their belts to survive in today's economic downturn. School leaders have been cutting budgets for afterschool activities, classroom equipment, and staff, all in an era of increasing academic expectations. It is little surprise, then, that facilities issues have been relegated to the bottom of the to-do list. However, the enormous costs and burdens of outmoded facilities arrangements represent an immense opportunity for the nation's school systems. In this paper, the author explores the causes of the nation's $300 billion funding shortfall in K-12 facilities and offers concrete recommendations to address this troubling trend. The author posits that public-private partnerships are a promising avenue for tapping the resources needed to address capital needs, but that current financial conditions in K-12 scare off potential investors. By overhauling facilities financing and exploring innovative approaches, policymakers can create the space for private investors to support school facilities. Helping schools better meet their facilities needs, the author argues, entails: (1) Holding educators and schools accountable for academic "and" financial performance; (2) Loosening regulations that limit the reach of charter schools and other nontraditional programs; and (3) Creating more opportunities for schools to take advantage of nontraditional financing options. Enacting such measures, the author asserts, will allow for a more stable and investor-friendly system for financing facilities. He explains, "Once established, uniformity, liquidity, and stability can foster increased partnerships between public and private parties, bringing more resources into the sector and allowing educators more time to tend to their profession." (Contains 6 figures and 9 endnotes.)

The Great Recession left a crater in the labor market that has been devastating for unemployed Americans of all ages. After more than two years of unemployment at well over 8%, there is a hole of more than 11 million jobs, with average spells of unemployment lasting nearly nine months. The weak labor market has been particularly tough on young workers. In 2010, the unemployment rate for workers age 16-24 was 18.4%--the worst on record in the 60 years that this data has been tracked. Though the labor market has started to "slowly" recover, the prospects for young high school and college graduates remain grim. This briefing paper examines the dire labor market confronting young workers and concludes with ways that government policy could help. (Contains 11 figures and 2 endnotes.)

Most analyses of teacher quality end without any assessment of the economic value of altered teacher quality. This paper combines information about teacher effectiveness with the economic impact of higher achievement. It begins with an overview of what is known about the relationship between teacher quality and student achievement, which provides the basis for consideration of the derived demand for teachers which comes from their impact on economic outcomes. Alternative valuation methods are based on the impact of increased achievement on individual earnings and on the impact of low teacher effectiveness on economic growth through aggregate achievement. A teacher one standard deviation above the mean effectiveness annually generates marginal gains of over $400,000 in present value of student future earnings with a class size of 20 and proportionately higher with larger class sizes. Alternatively, replacing the bottom 5-8 percent of teachers with average teachers could move the U.S. near the top of international math and science rankings with a present value of $100 trillion. (Contains 3 tables, 3 figures and 44 footnotes.)

It will take years for the labor market to recover from the damage induced by the recent recession. While monthly job losses almost surely peaked in 2009, the unemployment rate will likely peak in 2010 (CBO 2010a). In April, the unemployment rate reached 9.9% and the overall economic cause is simple: firms are not hiring quickly enough, as indicated by the 5.6 job seekers per current job opening. The 290,000 jobs gained in April, the largest monthly job gain in three years, represent a baby step in climbing out of the jobs hole of 10.7 million that remains in the recession's wake. For the class of 2010, it will be one of the worst years to graduate high school or college since at least 1983 and possibly the worst since the end of World War II. This paper documents several aspects of the grim labor market situation facing young graduates. It also discusses ways that government policy both helps and ways that it fails to help young workers damaged by the recession. The class of 2010 is graduating at a particularly bad time, and their poor job prospects are manifestly not their fault. They need a response from policy makers that appreciates these facts. (Contains 9 figures, 1 table, and 6 endnotes.)

Providing remedial (also known as developmental) education is the primary way colleges cope with students who do not have the academic preparation needed to succeed in college-level courses. Remediation is widespread, with nearly one-third of entering freshman taking remedial courses at a cost of at least $1 billion per year. Despite its prevalence, there is uncertainty surrounding its short- and longer-run effects. This paper presents new evidence on this question using longitudinal administrative data from Texas and a regression discontinuity research design. We find little indication that remediation improves academic or labor market outcomes. Additional data are appended. (Contains 32 footnotes, 11 tables, and 5 figures.) [This article has been published as: Martorell, Paco and Isaac McFarlin Jr. 2011. "Help or Hindrance? The Effects of College Remediation on Academic and Labor Market Outcomes," The Review of Economics & Statistics, 93(2): 436-454.]

A growing number of American states and school districts require students to meet basic performance standards in core academic subjects at key transition points in order to be promoted to the next grade. We exploit a discontinuity in the probability of third grade retention under a Florida test-based promotion policy to study the causal effect of retention on student outcomes over time. Regression discontinuity estimates indicate large short-term gains in achievement among retained students and a sharp reduction in the probability of retention in subsequent years. The achievement gains from retention fade out gradually over time, however, and are statistically insignificant after six years. Despite this fade out, our results suggest that previous evidence that early retention leads to adverse academic outcomes is misleading due to unobserved differences between retained and promoted students. They also imply that the educational and opportunity costs associated with retaining a student in the early grades are substantially less than a full year of per pupil spending and foregone earnings. (Contains 10 figures, 11 tables, and 19 footnotes.)

During the late 1990s public pension funds across the United States accrued large actuarial surpluses. The seemingly flush conditions of the pension funds led legislators in most states to substantially improve retirement benefits for public workers, including teachers. In this study we examine the benefit enhancements to the teacher pension system in Missouri. These enhancements resulted in large windfall gains for teachers who were close to retirement when the legislation was enacted. By contrast, novice teachers, and teachers who had not yet entered the labor force, were made "worse off". The reason is that front-end contribution rates have been raised for current teachers to offset past liabilities accrued from the enhancements. Other things equal, the teaching profession in Missouri is now less appealing for young teachers than it was before the pension enhancements were enacted. Pension-Wealth Calculations are appended. (Contains 2 figures, 7 tables and 31 footnotes.)

This paper examines the decision of Hurricane Katrina evacuees to return to their pre- Katrina areas and documents how the composition of the Katrina-affected region changed over time. Using data from the Current Population Survey, we show that an evacuee's age and the severity of damage in an evacuee's county of origin are important determinants of whether an evacuee returned during the first year after the storm. Blacks were less likely to return than whites, but this difference is primarily related to the geographical pattern of storm damage rather than to race per se. The difference between the composition of evacuees who returned and the composition of evacuees who did not return is the primary force behind changes in the composition of the affected areas in the first two years after the storm. Katrina is associated with substantial shifts in the racial composition of the affected areas (namely a decrease in the percentage of residents who are black) and an increasing presence of Hispanics. Katrina is also associated with an increase in the percentage of older residents, a decrease in the percentage of residents with low income/education, and an increase in the percentage of residents with high income/education. (Contains 35 footnotes, 6 figures, and 7 tables.)

This paper concentrates on the impact of globalisation on childcare since the late 1970s, particularly in the last two decades. It looks at how our views about children, parents and public services have changed as a result. In particular, the paper examines the case in Belgium, where the consequences of globalisation are also analyzed in terms of quality and accessibility of services and the shifting power relations between the state, childcare providers, parents and experts in the field of early childhood education. In order to understand our present-day views on the services provided to young children and their families, it is necessary to have some historical context. The paper therefore also investigates how childcare institutions have emerged over the history of western Europe, with special emphasis on Belgium, before examining their evolution in a more international context, looking at recent research from different countries. The paper concludes by distilling the situation into three apparently contradictory situations, and asking if they can be resolved. (Contains 3 figures and 3 footnotes.)

Over recent years governments have been placing more emphasis on innovation as a source of national competitiveness. Governments now assess their investments across many areas in terms of the contribution that such investments make to increasing innovation. This has been especially significant for education and in particular for the development of policies for universities because universities perform research as well as provide learning. The measures governments use to assess the performance of universities frequently include indicators of research-related engagement with business, or of the level of patenting, licensing and start ups. Assessing university performance by focusing on just some of the direct services or outputs that universities provide, or on narrow aspects of their individual services, seriously underestimates the contributions that universities make. Appended are: (1) The health innovation system; (2) Sources of ideas or information for business innovation; (3) Innovation-Active Businesses; and (4) Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education in the USA. (Contains 33 footnotes.)

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Directorate for Education surveyed the impact of the economic recession on education for the first time in June 2009. Responses were received from seventeen OECD member countries, the Flemish Community of Belgian and two Canadian provinces. The results of the survey reflect the observations of officials in education ministries and public agencies in member countries regarding various aspects of the impact of the economic recession and fiscal crisis on education. The survey indicated that the main effects of the crisis on education were: (1) a marked increase in demand for non-compulsory education in many countries as a result of rising unemployment; (2) some budget cuts in education in some countries; (3) attempts by governments in several countries to reduce the negative consequences on schools and universities by targeted explicit or implicit stimulus measures; vocational education and training, tertiary education and upper-secondary education benefit the most from stimulus measures; and (4) a rather severe impact on private investment. A second OECD "educationtoday" Crisis Survey was carried out over the summer of 2010. Twenty-five OECD member countries completed the questionnaire. The main change between the two surveys is that the first was carried out at a time of economic recession, while the second was developed at a time of economic recovery and fiscal consolidation. Indeed, the education systems in OECD member countries are mainly confronted with the difficulties of governments to maintain the growth of public spending as in past pre-crisis years. The main outcomes of the 2010 survey are the following: (1) The survey data does not portrait an education system dramatically affected by overall budget cuts; (2) In general, governments seem to be rather successful in protecting education spending; (3) The demand for non-compulsory education continues to augment, especially in vocational education and training, although the recession reduces the capacity of enterprises to uphold their training investments; (4) The recession has not slowed down reforms in education; on the contrary, some countries have accelerated reforms; and (5) Some governments are also taking into consideration the difficult situation of private households by increasing social measures to contain education cost. Annexed are: (1) Questionnaire Respondents; (2) The Crisis and Demand for Education in the Past; (3) The Crisis and Expected Demand for Education; (4) Targeting of Stimulus Spending on Education; (5) The Crisis and Public Financing of Education in the Past; (6) The Crisis and Educational Reform; and (7) The Crisis and Expected Public Financing of Education. (Contains 3 tables, 1 box and 4 notes.)

There is growing evidence that students throughout the world no longer see the US as the primary place to study; that in some form this correlates with a rise in perceived quality and prestige in the EU and elsewhere; and further, that this may mean a continued decline in the US's market share of international students. There clearly are a complex set of variables that will influence international education and global labor markets, including the current global economic recession. Ultimately, however, we think these factors will not alter the fundamental dynamics of the new global market, which include these facts: the international flow of talent, scientific or otherwise, is being fundamentally altered as nations invest more in educational attainment and human capital; the US will continue to lose some of its market share over time--the only question is how quickly and by how much; and without a proactive strategy, nations such as the US that are highly dependent on global in-migration of talented students and professionals are most vulnerable to downward access to global talent, with a potentially significant impact on future economic growth. This study provides data on past and recent global trends in international enrollment, and offers a set of policy recommendations for the US at the federal, state, and institutional level. This includes our recommendation of a national goal to double the number of international students in the US over the next decade to match numbers in a group of competitor nations, and requires recognition that the US will need to strategically expand its enrollment capacity and graduation rates to accommodate needed increases in the educational attainment rate of US citizens, and to welcome more international students. Attracting talent in a global market and increasing degree attainment rates of the domestic population are not mutually exclusive goals. Indeed, they will be the hallmarks of the most competitive economies. (Contains 6 figures and 41 endnotes.)

This report introduces, analyzes, and summarizes for policymakers an extensive and diverse economics literature on the effects of public K-12 education spending on local, regional, and state economies. The effects of education spending appear in indicators ranging from economic development to employment rates, small business starts, personal income, and housing values. The report offers real-world evidence that providing a quality K-12 public education for all is one of the best investments that governments can make. Therefore, policymakers should engage in serious thought and analysis before taking cost-saving steps that reduce the quality of public education to solve a local, state, or even federal budget shortfall. The paper looks at the effects of education spending and educational quality--as distinct from education spending--on economic indicators such as an individual's lifetime earnings, residential property values, manufacturing activity in a state, and small business start-ups in a state. (Contains 15 tables.)

This paper poses a question of direct relevance for welfare administrators, program operators, and policy makers: What management practices, program strategies, and local conditions are key to running effective welfare-to-work programs? To address this question, the present analysis links detailed measures of program characteristics to valid and precise estimates of program effects on short-term earnings. Data for the analysis are drawn from these three random assignment studies of welfare-to-work programs in 59 sites across the United States (with a combined total of 69,399 welfare clients): California's Greater Avenues for Independence (GAIN) program, Florida's Project Independence (PI), and the National Evaluation of Welfare-to-Work Strategies (NEWWS). The findings indicate that, other things being equal, program effects on earnings during the first two years after random assignment are largest when programs strongly emphasize employment, provide personalized attention, and do not let staff caseloads become large. The paper also finds that short-term impacts on earnings are smaller where unemployment is high, management choices and practices matter a lot, increased reliance on basic education reduces short-run effects, economic environment plays an important role, and program effectiveness varies inconsistently with client characteristics. Appendixes include 54 references; data tables and figures; program models for GAIN, PI, and NEWWS; and descriptions of measuring program performance as program effects on client earnings, measuring program characteristics, and testing the sensitivity of findings from the impact model. (Contains 54 references.) (Author/YLB)

This paper stems from an evaluation of Turkey's first microcredit project aimed specifically at women, which was carried out with data derived through the Foundation for the Support of Women's Work (FFSW)'s Management Information System (which tracks credit users and repayment performance), application forms from women who applied for and received microcredit, records of meetings, and interviews with 27 of the 90 women who received microcredit. It tells the story of how FSWW created the idea of developing a microcredit project; describes project management, goals, and geographic areas involved in the project; profiles the project participants; and explains why the women need loans, what they spend them on, and how they cope with running a household and a business at the same time. Clear benefits from and barriers to the project are analyzed. The paper concludes by addressing these topics: some of the issues women face; outcomes for FSWW; what has been learned; what the FSWW experience can offer others in the field; and the future direction of FSWW in the field of microcredit. Appendices contain a list of project landmark dates and data tables. (KC)

The federal government's student loan programs have been very successful, with two-thirds of all students or their families relying on loans provided or subsidized by the federal government. One of these student loan programs allows student borrowers to consolidate their previous loans into a single loan at a subsidized fixed rate based on the T-bill rate for a period of up to thirty years. The authors find that this program produces inequities among students based on the interest rate environment when they graduate as well as large long-term costs for taxpayers, which are incurred whenever interest rates rise, forcing the government to subsidize the low fixed rates paid by those fortunate enough to consolidate during a period of low interest rates. Based on simulations of the likely path of future interest rates, the authors find that rising interest rates will cost taxpayers at least $12 billion to subsidize the current $100 billion stock of debt outstanding under the largest loan program, the Federal Family Education Loan program. (Contains 7 tables and 32 footnotes.)

This paper discusses some of the ways in which state tax systems affect low-income families. The focus is on the working poor. Why state tax policy matters for these families is explained, describing some general trends in state tax structure among the 50 states. Attention is then paid to details on personal income and sales taxes in a subset of 13 states that have been the focus of the Assessing the New Federalism program. These states represent a wide variety of income distributions and tax structures. The implications of these tax policies for different types of families are discussed in terms of their after-tax income levels and work incentives. The various policy options states have to increase tax relief for low-income families are outlined, as are the issues states must consider in evaluating these alternatives. There is great diversity in how states tax low-income families. Some states impose substantial tax burdens through income taxes and sales taxes, while others provide generous subsidies through earned income tax credits similar to the federal version. A few states provide refundable child care credits as well. (Contains 10 tables, 4 figures, 11 references, and 23 endnotes.) (SLD)

This paper classifies the university economic impacts on a local community into their short- and long-term effects. The study then offers a classification scheme of university communities by the size of their regions and by their influences. Next, the paper suggests ways that economic impacts vary across university types and describes and critiques examples of short- and long-term studies that have been done. The local expenditure impact of a university is immediately noticeable. Knowledge impacts affect the community over a longer term. The extent of the economic impact of a college or university is related to the range of its influence and the character of the community in which it is located. Institutions in college towns have large regional expenditure and small knowledge impacts; metropolitan schools with regional reputations have small expenditure and large knowledge impacts. Economic impact studies previously done include income expenditure studies, American Council of Education studies, economic base studies, input-output studies, econometric studies, and knowledge impact studies. Seven exhibits presenting the data are included. (Contains 86 references.) (CK)

A study examined the question of how one Australian non-metropolitan community consolidates and develops sustainable economic and social activity through the learning of community members. The research used a focused interview process with open-ended questions with these 2 major sub-groups in the community and explored their interrelatedness: 2 people employed in 17 industry groups delineated for benchmarking performance in vocational education and training (VET) and 1 person affiliated with groups of community organizations. Sources of learning in these three contexts were explored: in recent paid work, in community activities, in home activities. Respondents rated the value to them of these five sources of learning: at school, through post-school qualifications, through work, outside of work from involvement with community groups, and associated with home activities. Findings indicated nonformal and informal learning contributed to a substantial proportion of an individual's learning. Formal learning through schooling and post-school qualifications were assigned a relatively lower value. While 46 percent of VET graduates regarded VET qualifications as of high or medium usefulness, trade qualifications and higher level awards were more highly valued. Regarding their most important skill, 47 percent named empathy for others and 42 percent named communication skills. (Contains 19 references.) (YLB)

This paper examines the extent, nature, and implications of spatial variations in skill levels across England. Section 2 sets out reasons why skill levels should be important to localities and their economic potential by outlining their growing importance and the way in which they are connected to economic well-being. Section 3 sets out the extent and nature of spatial skill variations in England, considering different measures of the qualifications (used as a proxy for skills) of the labor force and the qualifications of young people at school. Section 4 examines the relationship at a local level between the skill levels of the work force and those of the school population to consider the possibility of a systemic skills condition across localities. Section 5 sets out to assess the relationship between the spatial skill variations found and various indicators of local economic performance--employment, competitiveness, earnings, and deprivation. Section 6 sets out the main implications of the findings. (Contains 24 references.) (YLB)

In the new economy, Americans need a strong foundation of basic skills and education to succeed in their adult roles as workers, family members, and citizens. Analysts estimate over 20 percent of Americans lack the foundation of basic skills and education they need. One way to understand how basic skills lead to success in the 21st century is to look at the demand for them in work, family, and community settings. In work, the need to apply basic skills to changing situations requires a higher level of fluency, speed, and accuracy. Changes in family life require adults to use their literacy and math skills to acquire information and build a base of knowledge for decisions about health care, finances, and retirement. In the community, Americans need strong basic skills to exercise their rights and participate fully as citizens. Services are provided to adults through basic skills, family literacy, English as a second language (ESL) and general educational development (GED) programs coordinated under the Workforce Investment Act. Three priorities to expand and improve services are to increase resources, increase access, and improve instruction. A publication that summarizes discussions that took place at the 2000 National Literacy Summit, "From the Margins to the Mainstream," could provide a blueprint for the federal government for investing in the adult education and literacy system. (Contains 27 references.) (YLB)

Three broad categories were identified among 340 occupations at the four-digit level of the Australian Standard Classification of Occupations: positively/opportunistically engaged in the global economy (conceptual/creative, conceptual/technical); vulnerable (manufacturing, white-collar clerical, blue-collar operative, manual low skill); and insulated (vocational trades and in-person professional, skilled, and low skill). Analysis of Australian Bureau of Statistics data from 1986-2000 using these classifications revealed the following: (1) the Australian work force is 21% positively engaged, 35% vulnerable, and 44% insulated; (2) 62% of males and 47% of females are exposed to global competition; (3) the proportion of insulated and positively engaged workers rose slightly and vulnerable workers fell from 39% to 35%; (4) workers with vocational qualifications were underrepresented among the positively engaged; (5) although part-time and contingent employment grew faster than full time, especially in insulated occupations, the most rapid growth was in full-time positively engaged; (6) strongest growth in positively engaged was among workers 35-54, whereas younger workers declined in this group; and (7) manufacturing occupations have stagnated, whereas some vocational trades experienced continual growth. These two potential paths were discerned: increasing preparation for conceptual/creative and conceptual/technical occupations and/or maximizing job creation in insulated occupations. (Contains 6 tables and 24 figures in the text; appendices include 10 figures of trends by employment group and the classification of 340 occupations.) (SK)

This study explored the relationships between adult economic outcomes and three key factors during adolescence: schooling, family background, and county of residence. The empirical analysis was based on data covering the period from 1979-1996. Data came from the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. The study examined a sample of people ages 14-19 years in 1979. Researchers made estimates on the impact of family, school, and county when growing up on earnings capacity and poverty risk once participants reached adulthood. Overall, family, school, and county of residence, when analyzed separately, each exhibited significant associations with men's and women's outcomes in later life. The size and significance of these effects were very susceptible to controls for the other sets of background factors, indicating the strong link between these different aspects of people's lives when growing up. Family factors had the strongest explanatory power, followed by schooling variables. There was a strong correlation between the characteristics of area of residence and family and school. The results provide evidence that the advantage or disadvantage associated with family background is compounded by young people's experiences in school, and in some cases, area of residence. Tables are appended. (Contains 11 references.) (SM)

The entry of working welfare mothers into the labor market will have an impact on the wages and employment of low-skilled workers. This impact was examined through a labor market analysis of available statistical data about the U.S. population and employment patterns. The characteristics of workers likely to enter the labor market because of welfare reform were considered along with the following mediators of the effects of welfare mothers' entry into the labor market: the size of the labor influx, the characteristics of welfare mothers, the state of the economy, migration, and institutional arrangements. The analysis revealed that a 10% increase in the number of working welfare recipients could result in a 0.3% wage decrease for men who were born in the United States and do not have a high school diploma. The analysis did not reveal any discernible short-term negative effects of the public assistance group on low-skilled women. In the long run, however, welfare reform will likely increase the number of low-skilled U.S.-born women in the labor force and thus drive down their wages by as much as 2.2%. The claim that immigrants take wage opportunity away from welfare participants appeared to be unfounded. (Six endnotes and twenty-eight references are included.) (MN)

Over the past decade, the Hispanic population in Memphis (Tennessee) has grown from 8,116 to an estimated 53,628, drawn to the city by the availability of employment. The new Latino immigrants are younger, more skilled, and more highly educated than those who arrived in previous decades. Enrollment of Hispanic children in Memphis schools has grown from 572 in 1992 to 2,581 in 1999. In some neighborhoods, Hispanic enrollment is as high as 22 percent of total enrollment. Most Latinos are employed as semiskilled workers in trade, distribution, and construction jobs. Low unemployment rates made it relatively easy to find employment even for persons who did not speak English. In addition, it appears that Latinos did not displace local workers, since the number of jobs grew more than the number of workers. Latino workers in Memphis have a total economic impact of $1,020,000,000 and 35,972 jobs, made up of the work they do and the jobs they create through their consumer expenditures. Latino workers earned $570.8 million in the Memphis area in 2000, paid at least $87.9 million in taxes, and spent $359.6 million in the local economy. Latino immigrants play an increasingly important role in the social life and regional economy of Memphis and contribute a new element of cultural diversity to the city's schools, churches, and neighborhoods. (Contains 33 references.) (TD)

An empirical analysis used data for 12 European countries from the 1988-1997 European Community Labour Force Survey to assess the effects of cyclical changes in aggregate economic conditions, changing youth cohort sizes, increasing educational expansion, and structural changes in labor demand on new labor force participants. Emphasis was on the unemployment risks and occupational allocations of these labor market entrants. The study found that unemployment risks have closely followed the evolution of aggregate economic conditions with only a little impact from demographic factors. Changes in occupational allocation, in turn, are much dependent on the relative evolution of educational expansion and professionalization tendencies. In addition, these trends do not affect all educational leavers evenly. The lowest qualified are most heavily affected by cyclical changes in economic conditions, while leavers from university-level education have been more strongly affected by trends of changing occupational attainment. Increasing labor force professionalization is found to contribute to increasing labor market difficulties among the lowest qualified. (Contains 83 references.) (KC)