Transitions Into the Labor Force: Examining U.S. Young Adults by Student and Employment Status

• In Event: 34.062 - What Skills Are Key to Labor Force Success? Results From the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies

Abstract

Objectives and Framework
Results from the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) show that U.S. young adults, ages 16 to 34, performed poorly compared to young adults internationally, particularly in numeracy and digital problem-solving (OECD, 2013; Goodman et al., 2015). Many young adults are participating in formal education, entering the labor market, or becoming parents. However, the low skill levels found among this group and the large number who are “disconnected”, or neither employed nor engaged in formal education, is a concern as they transition into adulthood, as they will be the future workforce, parents, and citizenry of our country (Sands and Goodman 2018).

This paper will look closely at the performance of U.S. young adults, using a new variable indicating student-and-employment status to examine the relationship between skills and transitions from high school into the workforce.

Data and Methods
The U.S. PIAAC 2012/14 data is used and the population is subset to young adults ages 16 to 34.
The new student-and-employment status variable categorizes those who are studying and not employed full-time as students. Those employed full-time, regardless of whether they are studying, and those employed part-time, but not currently studying, likely have begun developing careers and are categorized as primarily workers. The last two categories are those unemployed and out of the labor force, but not currently studying.

This paper uses average scores and proficiency levels in literacy, numeracy, and digital problem-solving to examine the skills of U.S. young adults overall by student-and-employment status. The proficiency distributions for various demographic (e.g. nativity status), education (e.g. attainment and area of study), and workforce characteristics (e.g. occupation and income) within each student-and-employment group are then examined.

Results
U.S. young adults who were students or employed full-time had higher average literacy and numeracy skills than non-students employed part-time, unemployed, or out of the labor force.
Students and the full-time employed did not perform measurably different in literacy or digital problem-solving but the full-time employed outperformed students in numeracy. Additionally, the unemployed had lower numeracy skills than those out of the labor force. These patterns were similar when looking at the percentage of the lowest performers among these groups. These results also highlight the large percentage of low skilled in these groups; for example, almost one-half of unemployed young adults performed at the lowest numeracy skill levels (below Level 1 or below ). These patterns are replicated among some of the demographic groups, although there are some differences.

Significance
This study shows the size and skills of the population of “disconnected youth, ” the combined categories of unemployed and out of the labor force. It also allows one to see which student-and-employment groups have large proportions of low-skilled young adults by various demographic characteristics, indicating where supports for transition into the labor force are needed. For example, that the unemployed had lower skills than those out of the labor force shows a potential skills mismatch and a need for training those who want to enter the labor force.

Author

• Emily Pawlowski, American Institutes for Research