Education and Training Trajectories Among U.S. Adults
Analyze Trajectories
U.S. adults take a variety of academic pathways to employment. Explore the pathways for all U.S. adults between the ages of 18 and 64, or select a group of interest to visualize pathways based on demographic characteristics.
Compare Outcomes
Academic outcomes differ across demographic groups. Investigate how a variety of academic outcomes compare across different groups.
Certificate Attainment
Fifteen percent of Americans attain additional post-secondary certificates to advance their education. Find out how achievement of post-secondary certificates varies across demographic groups.
Explore academic pathways for a subgroup of U.S. adults
Select a subgroup of interest using the filters on the left. This will update the group of people whose trajectories are visualized below.
Explore academic outcomes by selected demographics
Select a demographic category on the left and a career outcome of interest on the right to update the graph below.
Group adults by
and explore the outcome
Explore demographic differences among the sub-baccalaureate population
Compare the demographic characteristics of those who attain a (post-secondary) certificate with those who do not attain a (post-secondary) certificate.
Filter to subjects in
.
Groups with fewer than 10 cases are not shown and indicated with an s.
Groups that are not in the selected region and response category are indicated with an n.
Proportions are rounded to the nearest percentage point.
The number of cases for each socio-demographic characteristic changes due to the exclusion of missing data.
About the Tool
This tool presents finding from the 2019 National Education and Attainment Study (NEAS) public use file of data (PUF). Visualizations and estimates in the HOME, TRAJECTORIES and COMPARE OUTCOMES tabs are based on 5,601 survey responses to the NEAS, weighted to be representative of the national population of all U.S. adults. The CERTIFICATES tab represents selected demographics and employment outcomes of the sub-baccalaureate sample who earned a post-secondary certificate.
The tool was built in R Shiny and visualizations were created in D3.js.
About the Study
NORC at the University of Chicago (NORC) conducted the 2017 and 2019 National Education and Attainment Survey (NEAS), funded by the Lumina Foundation. This study is in support of Lumina’s GOAL 2025 which aims to increase the proportion of Americans with high-quality degrees, certificates, and other credentials to 60% by 2025. The survey drew a nationally representative sample of households across the United States. Both rounds of the NEAS data collection effort administered a 10-minutes survey via web and paper-and-pencil modes to adults between the ages of 18 and 64, covering topics such as: educational background; certifications and licenses; certificates; apprenticeships; employment; and other work force experiences. The data for this dashboard uses the 2019 public use file (PUF) of data, which includes 5401 responses. Additional information and products, including the PUFs for 2017 and 2019, codebooks, user’s guides, and methodology reports, can be found here: https://www.norc.org/Research/Projects/Pages/national-education-and-attainment-survey.aspx.
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Citation Information
The National Education and Attainment Survey (NEAS) is a project of the independent research organization NORC at the University of Chicago. The legal name of NORC at the University of Chicago is National Opinion Research Center; we are also registered to do business as NORC. Unauthorized use or copy of NEAS materials from this website may violate copyright or other laws. NORC reserves complete title and full intellectual property rights in materials viewed on or downloaded from the website.
If you cite findings or statistics from the website or downloaded data, use the following citation: “Education and training trajectories among U.S. adults.” NORC at the University of Chicago. August 6, 2021. https://www.norc.org/Research/Projects/Pages/national-education-and-attainment-survey.aspx.
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