DOI: 10.3886/e166583v1
title: Sub-baccalaureate Credentials and Underemployment

description: While level of education predicts life income, the problem for this study was to determine the extent to which educational attainment predicts level of employment. The purpose of this quantitative study of archival data was to determine whether educational attainment predicts level of post-graduation employment for sub-baccalaureate associate degree and certificate holders. The covariates for this study were age, gender, race, and field of study. Human capital theory, the theoretical framework for this study, posits that students invest their time and resources in achieving educational credentials to obtain the economic benefits associated with those credentials. The two research questions that guided this study sought to determine if higher educational attainment at subbaccalaureate levels predicts either involuntary underemployment or voluntary underemployment. Logistic regression was used to conduct a quantitative analysis of a secondary data sample (N = 583) obtained from the Adult Technical Education Survey (ATES 2016). For research question one, the null hypothesis was rejected because the findings showed a statistically significant relationship between involuntary underemployment and five predictor variables: sub-baccalaureate certificates, associate degrees, field of study (other fields), race/ethnicity (Hispanics), and gender (female). For research question two, the null hypothesis was not rejected because gender was the only statistically significant variable associated with voluntary underemployment. This study contributes to social change by providing recent research findings from a nationally representative sample to inform key stakeholders about the association between higher educational attainment and post-graduation employment at sub-baccalaureate levels.
description: Response Rates: For the ATES 2016 survey, of the 63,846 households that were selected to receive the ATES 2016 survey, the NHES researchers obtained 47, 744 completed ATES surveys. The weighted response rate was 73.1% <br><br>For my study, from the total of the 47, 744 respondents, SPSS extracted 1675 respondents who answered the questions related to underemployment (the subject of my study) on the ATES 2016 survey. From this sample, 583 cases which met all the remaining criteria for my study were included in the logistic regression analysis to obtain the data to answer the research questions in my study.
description: A random sample of 583 cases were drawn from a sample of 1675 respondents who responded to the two questions on underemployment that related to my study.
description: The target population for the 2016 ATES survey was all adults living at residential addresses or adults with post office (P.O.) boxes in the United States and the District of Columbia. The address-based sample frame from this population contained approximately 126,115,692 addresses.<br><br>For the ATES 2016 study, the adults (i.e. individuals) who completed the ATES 2016 survey were noninstitutionalized adults, 16 to 65 years of age, who were not enrolled in Grades 12 or below and were not being home schooled for equivalent grades. For my study, the cases analyzed represented respondents who were noninstitutionalized adults (i.e. individuals), 17 to 66 years of age, who were not enrolled in Grades 12 or below and were not being homeschooled for equivalent grades. Smallest Geographic Unit: United States
description: mail questionnaire; other; The sample frame for the NHES 2016 study covering three topical survey, the ATES 2016 survey and two other surveys, was approximately 126,115,692 addresses and was derived from a file of residential addresses compiled by the Marketing Systems Group (MSG) based on the computerized delivery file for the United States Postal Service (USPS). This sample frame consisted of all Unites States residential addresses (including the District of Columbia) and P.O. boxes flagged by the United States Postal Service as the only way to get mail. From this total sample, an initial sample of 206,000 addresses were randomly selected to receive a screener questionnaire. One person per household was asked to complete the screener questionnaire for up to five people within the household.. Based on responses to the screener, one individual in each household was selected to complete the ATES survey or one of the other two surveys in the NHES 2016 longitudinal study. The screening process generated a target population for the ATES survey of 63,846 households that were selected to receive the ATES 2016 survey. From the target population, the NHES researchers obtained 47,744 completed ATES surveys.<br><br>For my study, I used logistic regression to conduct a quantitative analysis of a secondary data sample (N = 583) obtained from the Adult Technical Education Survey (ATES 2016).