{"id":7922,"date":"2012-06-06T14:24:45","date_gmt":"2012-06-06T20:24:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/?p=7922"},"modified":"2012-06-06T16:57:34","modified_gmt":"2012-06-06T22:57:34","slug":"vocational-certificates-have-more-value-in-idaho-than-other-states","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/2012\/06\/06\/vocational-certificates-have-more-value-in-idaho-than-other-states\/","title":{"rendered":"Vocational Certificates Have More Value In Idaho Than In Other States"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Emilie Ritter Saunders \/ StateImpact<\/p>

Professional students practice their welding skills in Meridian, Idaho.<\/p><\/div>\n

Two-year postsecondary certificates hold more economic value in Idaho than in most other states.\u00a0 That’s according to a report released today<\/a> that measures the value of vocational certificates.\u00a0 But, at the same time, Idaho ranks among the bottom ten U.S. states when it comes to the number of people with two-year postsecondary certificates.<\/p>\n

The report<\/a> released by the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce examines the value of two-year colleges, calling certificates “the gateway to gainful employment and college degrees.” <\/p>\n

The first paragraph of the study’s executive summary says it all:<\/p>\n

“In America, the postsecondary certificate has become a cost-effective tool for increasing postsecondary educational attainment and gainful employment. Certificates are a homegrown American invention and are expanding rapidly in response to a wide range of educational and labor market demands.” – Georgetown University CEW<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Ten states, including Idaho, have the largest share of high-value certificates.\u00a0 Most of them are in the West and Midwest, in states including Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, and Nebraska.<\/p>\n

“How much value a certificate has depends on many factors, such as local labor market demand for middle-skill jobs.\u00a0 In some states, certificates offer a large wage premium, while in other states workers with certificates don’t do much better than high school graduates.” – Georgetown University CEW<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But, as USA Today<\/em> puts it<\/a>, “the devil is in the details.” The paper reports<\/a>, while vocational training can be more lucrative in the short run, that’s more true for Hispanics than blacks and for men than women.\u00a0 It also depends on the field.<\/p>\n

Quick facts from Georgetown’s report:<\/p>\n

\n
    \n
  • More than 1 million certificates were awarded in 2010; up from 300,000 in 1994.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
      \n
    • Certificates have grown from 6 percent of postsecondary awards in 1980 to 22 percent of awards today.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
        \n
      • Certificates have superseded Associate\u2019s and Master\u2019s degrees as the second most common award in the American postsecondary education and career training system.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n

        Have you considered a two-year vocational program?\u00a0 Are you a graduate of one? Let us know in the comments section below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        Two-year postsecondary certificates hold more economic value in Idaho than in most other states.\u00a0 That’s according to a report released today that measures the value of vocational certificates.\u00a0 But, at the same time, Idaho ranks among the bottom ten U.S. states when it comes to the number of people with two-year postsecondary certificates. The report […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":7925,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[14],"tags":[233,166,167],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7922"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7922"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7922\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7946,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7922\/revisions\/7946"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7925"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}