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Across the country, people are turning to postsecondary certificates as a quick and low-cost route to economic opportunity. Certificates in Oregon: A Model for Workers to Jump-Start or Reboot Careers, examines the earnings of workers before, during, and after they complete a community college certificate program. In particular, it finds that young certificate recipients can double their earnings after completion, and mid-career workers can re-establish themselves in the job market. This state-level research generates new insights about an often-misunderstood credential.
Other key findings include:
- Students who receive federal Pell Grants boost their pay on average by nearly $10,000 by earning a certificate and increasing their work hours.
- Men out-earn women, but women experience stronger earnings growth than men after they finish a certificate program.
- Workers can use certificates to switch industries. For example, certificate holders often switch from working in traditional blue-collar industries to working in the fast-growing healthcare services industry.
- Certificate production at Oregon community colleges has increased, but the number of certificates awarded at private two-year institutions, including for-profit colleges, has declined.