Recent Participation in Formal Learning among Working-Age Adults with Different Levels of Education. Issue Brief. NCES 2008-041

Overview & Synopsis

Adults who have low levels of education often lack the skills needed to succeed in the labor market (OECD and Statistics Canada 2000). One way for adults to overcome this skill disadvantage is to participate in learning activities offered through the formal education system, at the workplace, or by other organizations. This Issue Brief uses data from the Adult Education Survey of the National Household Education Surveys Program (AE-NHES), conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), to examine the participation of adults with different levels of education in formal (i.e., instructor-led) learning activities. Adults with low levels of education are of particular concern in this Issue Brief, and are defined as adults who did not complete high school or who completed it via a General Educational Development (GED) credential. Specifically, the current analysis examines two aspects of the participation of adults in formal learning: the extent to which adults participate in different types of formal learning activities and who pays the costs associated with this participation. (Contains 9 endnotes, 1 figure, and 1 table.)