Local Labor Market Alignment of Short-Term Certificate Programs

Abstract

Short-term certificate (STC) programs at community colleges represent a long-standing policy priority to align accelerated postsecondary credentials with job opportunities in local labor markets. Despite large investments in developing STCs, little evidence exists about where and when STCs are opened and whether community colleges open new programs of study in coordination with labor market trends. Using public workforce and postsecondary data, I examine health and manufacturing STC program openings to understand alignment with labor market activity in related industries. I find that STCs are spatially aligned across labor markets within a state, but not necessarily temporally aligned with county-specific trends. One additional STC per college is associated with labor markets that had 2–3% points more total employment and new hires in related industries. Large launches of clustered STC programs occurred before periods of growth in health employment but declines in manufacturing. Large launches preceded earnings growth of 2–5% points in both sectors.