UC Irvine

In this study, trends in career and technical education (CTE) course completion and their effects on post-secondary degree attainment, employment and earnings are analyzed using high school transcript data from HS&B: 1982, NELS: 1992 and ELS: 2002. Findings show a decrease in overall career and technical education units completed that is largely driven by a decrease in such coursework by females in the 2002 cohort. Changes in the mean units of CTE coursework by type are discussed. I hypothesize that CTE will decrease the likelihood of a young adult enrolling in college, but increase employability and earnings. My analyses find a negative effect on later education; little effect on employability and mixed effects on earnings, with results based somewhat on the type of CTE completed. These findings cast doubt on whether CTE as presently implemented is worth its cost.