Absence of conflict of interest.
Citation
Hanson, H., Stevens, D., Vazquez, M., & Roberts, B. (2018). Preparing Alaskans for mining careers through short, industry-informed training programs: University of Alaska round IV TAACCCT grant. Portland, OR: Education Northwest.
Highlights
- The study’s objective was to examine the impact of the University of Alaska's Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training (TAACCCT) grant program on the employment and earnings of community college students.
- The study used a nonexperimental design to compare the outcomes of students in the TAACCCT-enhanced Surface Mining and Underground Mining programs to similar individuals who did not attend community college and instead entered the labor market in mining occupations.
- The study found that the TAACCCT-enhanced program participation was significantly associated with a higher likelihood of employment retention and increased quarterly wages.
- The quality of causal evidence presented in this report is low because the authors did not ensure that the groups being compared were similar before the intervention. This means we are not confident that the estimated effects are attributable to the University of Alaska's TAACCCT grant program; other factors are likely to have contributed.
Intervention Examined
The University of Alaska's TAACCCT Grant Program
Features of the Intervention
The U.S. Department of Labor's (DOL) Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training (TAACCCT) program provided $1.9 billion in grants to community colleges to improve skills and support employment in high-demand industries, notably manufacturing, health care, information technology, energy, and transportation. Through four rounds of funding, DOL awarded 256 TAACCCT grants to approximately 800 educational institutions across the United States and its territories.
The University of Alaska's TAACCCT grant program was designed to target adult, TAA-eligible, Alaska Native, veteran, unemployed workers, and other adults in the mining industry. The University developed Mining and Petroleum Training Services (MAPTS) curriculum at the Fairbanks campus by creating a remote facility to simulate a mining worksite and help students adjust to site conditions. The MAPTS curriculum included the implementation of 140-hour (for surface mining) or 280-hour (for underground mining) courses that included both classroom instruction and hands-on practice, developing strong employer partnerships, recruiting faculty with diverse and relevant backgrounds, and providing wraparound academic, nonacademic, and career support services for participants and alumni. Students could take either enter Surface Mining or Underground Mining program tracks within MAPTS.
Features of the Study
The study was conducted at the University of Alaska Fairbanks in Fairbanks, Alaska. The authors used a nonexperimental design to compare employment and wage outcomes between MAPTS program participants and non-participants. The treatment group consisted of 43 Underground Mining MAPTS students and 27 Surface Mining MAPTS students enrolled from 2014-2017 who completed their programs by September 2017, who were matched to 6,832 and 2,610 comparison individuals, respectively. The comparison group included Alaskans who entered the natural resource extraction and construction industries at the same time that MAPTS participants completed their programs. Individuals enrolled in other TAACCCT programs or who had significantly outlying birth years or prior wages were excluded from the sample. Using administrative data from the University of Alaska Fairbanks for the treatment group and data from the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development for the comparison group, the authors used statistical models and analyses to examine differences between the groups.
Findings
Earnings and wages
- For Underground Mining participants, the study found that MAPTS participation was significantly related to increased earnings two and four quarters after program completion. The average quarterly wage for Underground Mining participants was $6,026 higher than the comparison group two quarters after completing the MAPTS program and $7,630 higher four quarters after completion.
- For Surface Mining participants, the study found that MAPTS participation was significantly related to increased earnings two quarters after program completion. The average quarterly wage for Surface Mining participants was $2,274 higher than the comparison group two quarters after completing the MAPTS program. However, the study did not find a significant relationship between MAPTS participation and quarterly wages four quarters after program completion.
Employment
- For Underground Mining participants, the study found that MAPTS participation was significantly associated with higher odds of retaining employment two and four quarters after the end of the program. Relative to the comparison group, Underground mining participants were 7 times more likely to retain employment two quarters after program completion and 9 times more likely after four quarters.
- For Surface Mining participants, the study found that MAPTS participation was significantly associated with higher odds of retaining employment two quarters after the end of the program. Relative to the comparison group, Surface Mining participants were 59 times more likely to retain employment two quarters after program completion a than the comparison group. However, the study did not find a significant relationship between MAPTS participation and the likelihood of employment retention after four quarters.
Considerations for Interpreting the Findings
The authors created a matched group of non-participating students to compare to MAPTS students. However, the authors did not account for other factors that could have affected the difference between the treatment and comparison groups, such as race/ethnicity as required by the protocol. These preexisting differences between the groups—and not the University of Alaska's TAACCCT grant program—could explain the observed differences in outcomes. Therefore, the study is not eligible for a moderate causal evidence rating, the highest rating available for nonexperimental designs.
Causal Evidence Rating
The quality of causal evidence presented in this report is low because the authors did not ensure that the groups being compared were similar before the intervention. This means we are not confident that the estimated effects are attributable to the University of Alaska’s TAACCCT grant program; other factors are likely to have contributed.