About Graduate Employment Outcomes

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    Description

    The Graduate Employment Outcomes tool shows how many recent Minnesota graduates found Minnesota jobs one and two years after graduation. It also shows the median wages earned and the top industries where graduates found jobs. You can search by year, location, award type, institution type, and instructional program. Reports will be updated with a new cohort of graduates each year.

    Funding sources and legislative mandates

    The GEO tool was developed with funding from the Workforce Data Quality Initiative (WDQI) grant through the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration with the purpose of researching and disseminating labor market outcomes of college graduates in Minnesota. The tool also meets three legislative mandates:

    1. Minn. Stat. 116J.4011 Labor Market Information Data Production mandating the Employment and Economic Development commissioner, in collaboration with the Office of Higher Education, to produce and publish labor market analysis describing the alignment between employer requirements and workforce qualifications;
    2. Minn. Stat. 136A.121 State Grant Program mandating public release of employment outcome data by school;
    3. Federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) mandating the publication of employment outcomes for WIOA certified educational programs to track outcomes for training participants, including participants who are not enrolled in WIOA programs. See overview of WIOA.

    Data sources

    • Minnesota Office of Higher Education (OHE) postsecondary graduation records from July 2006 to June 2012.
    • Wage records from all employers subject to Unemployment Insurance taxes in Minnesota.

    Students with valid Social Security numbers were followed longitudinally through education into the workforce using Unemployment Insurance wage records.

    SLEDS

    Minnesota has developed the Minnesota Statewide Longitudinal Education Data System (SLEDS) matching student data from pre-kindergarten through completion of postsecondary education and into the workforce. By bridging existing data with other incoming data a range of education programmatic and delivery questions can be answered to gauge the effectiveness of current programs and design targeted improvement strategies to help students.

    SLEDS brings together data from education and workforce to:

    • Identify the most viable pathways for individuals in achieving successful outcomes in education and work;
    • Inform decisions to support and improve education and workforce policy and practice, and
    • Assist in creating a more seamless education and workforce system for all Minnesotans.

    Who will use the tool?

    • Prospective students, to set realistic expectations for employment and wages following graduation in a specific program;
    • Parents and career counselors, to help prospective students explore prospects for employment and earnings as they plan their education;
    • Education program planners interested in more closely aligning program offerings to labor market demand;
    • Policy makers interested in identifying potential under-supply or over-supply of skilled labor in strategic sectors of the economy or evaluating the state’s returns on investments in higher education.

    How is the data formatted?

    Viewable tables and graphs, downloadable files

    Disclosure notes

    We include only those programs reported to the Minnesota Department of Higher Education which have at least 10 graduates. And outcomes are only shown when there are at least 10 graduates with valid wage records.

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