TY - JOUR
T1 - Limited supply and lagging enrollment
T2 - Production technologies and enrollment changes at community colleges during the pandemic
AU - Schanzenbach, Diane W.
AU - Turner, Sarah
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: [Sarah Turner reports funding was provided by the Smith Richardson Foundation. ]
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2022/8
Y1 - 2022/8
N2 - Weak labor markets typically lead young workers to invest in skills. High unemployment during COVID diverged from prior downturns: enrollment at community colleges dropped by 9.5 percent between 2019 and 2020, with the drop larger among men. COVID disruptions generated supply-side impacts on courses of study requiring significant capital and “hands on” experiential learning, particularly programs that deliver assembly, repair and maintenance (ARM) skills. Community colleges that had relative concentrations of credentials in ARM fields pre-pandemic experienced relatively large enrollment declines. The decline in ARM enrollment explains about one quarter of the overall community college enrollment decline, and nearly all the difference in enrollment declines by gender during COVID.
AB - Weak labor markets typically lead young workers to invest in skills. High unemployment during COVID diverged from prior downturns: enrollment at community colleges dropped by 9.5 percent between 2019 and 2020, with the drop larger among men. COVID disruptions generated supply-side impacts on courses of study requiring significant capital and “hands on” experiential learning, particularly programs that deliver assembly, repair and maintenance (ARM) skills. Community colleges that had relative concentrations of credentials in ARM fields pre-pandemic experienced relatively large enrollment declines. The decline in ARM enrollment explains about one quarter of the overall community college enrollment decline, and nearly all the difference in enrollment declines by gender during COVID.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2022.104703
DO - 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2022.104703
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85133218348
SN - 0047-2727
VL - 212
JO - Journal of Public Economics
JF - Journal of Public Economics
M1 - 104703
ER -
