Community Colleges and Employers: How Can We Understand their Connection?
The Industrial Relations Journal has published a new paper by Paul Osterman (MIT), a former Visiting Scholar and the co-author of Good Jobs America, and Andrew Weaver (University of Illinois, Champaign). During his time at RSF, Osterman explored strategies for improving job quality in the low-wage labor market, focusing on which incentives for employers could lead to the development of policies to increase wages and benefits in the private sector.
In their paper, Osterman and Weaver explore the relationship between community colleges and private firms. The abstract states:
This paper uses an original, nationally representative survey of manufacturing establishments to shed light on the interaction of employers with community colleges, including information on skill requirements and human resource practices. We test three hypotheses: that high-skill employers use community colleges, that community colleges are a substitute for employer-based training, and that community colleges are a complement to so-called “high-road” or “high-commitment” human resource practices. We find limited utilization of community colleges by employers, but those that do establish a relationship are generally satisfied. Employers that demand high skills are more likely to use community colleges, as are “high-commitment” firms.
Visit the Industrial Relations Journal to read the article in full.