Education Employment and Wages in the Appalachia Region Final Report

This report is the third in a three-part series. The first two reports provided initial examinations of STEM education and the labor market in the Appalachia Partnership Initiative (API) region. In this report, the authors address the same questions as the first two reports but devote more attention to examining whether and how any of the indicators have changed over time. The authors also tighten the analysis specifically to the API region and introduces a few new measures, such as participation in career and technical education (CTE).

This final report in the series answers the following questions:

• What are the trends in secondary and postsecondary education in the API region, and how do they compare with the nation? –
• Is the local talent pool graduating from high schools and colleges equipped with skills and trained in fields that could be utilized in the region’s STEM labor market?
• Is there expansion in the number or quality of students finishing their education?
• What are the characteristics of the API region’s STEM labor market?
• Which areas within the region are registering growth in working-age population, employment, and wages or earnings?
• Which STEM occupations and jobs are garnering the highest wages?
• Who are new hires in the extraction industry?
• Do these new entrants originate locally or from outside the region?
• When workers enter or leave the industry, how does their change in earnings compare with other key industries?

(This report is 36 pages long.)

The researchers identified the following findings:

• Middle school students in the API states have outperformed students nationwide in mathematics, and trends are improving over time.
• CTE in the API region has room for growth.
• High school graduation rates are high and improving.
• Although postsecondary enrollment decreased in the API region over time, the percentage of students graduating in STEM has been increasing and outstripping the national average.
• The working-age population declined within the API region.
• Median earnings were higher in suburban areas of the API region and lowest in parts of the urban centers, but there was no clear geographic pattern of growth in median earnings.
• Earnings were high and growing in the mining and utilities industry in the API region.
• The mining and extraction industry was particularly successful at compensating workers who held a high school degrees or had less education.
• New hires from outside the extraction industry in API states primarily came from within the region but from other industries and enjoyed large earnings increases.

• Last Updated:
• Created:
• Resource Publication Date: 2020
• Author(s): Baird, M.D.; Hunter, G.P.; Edenfield, N.; Broten, N.; Gabriella, G.C.
• Resource Availability: Publicly available
• Posted by: Wesley Peterson
• Posted in: Workforce System Strategies