This study, completed by the Aspen Institute Workforce Strategies Initiative in 2015, explores whether individuals who obtain credentials work more and earn more over time than they would without such credentials. The study is the first to estimate the causal impact on earnings from obtaining a credential for low-income job seekers.

ACT WorkKeys is a job skills assessment system that helps employers select, hire, train, develop, and retain a high-performance workforce. This series of tests measures foundational and soft skills, and offers specialized assessments to target institutional needs. As part of ACT's Work Readiness System, ACT WorkKeys has helped millions of people in high schools, colleges, professional associations, businesses, and government agencies build their skills to increase global competitiveness and develop successful career pathways. Successful completion of ACT WorkKeys assessments in Applied Mathematics, Locating Information, and Reading for Information can lead to earning ACT's National Career Readiness Certificate (ACT NCRC), a portable credential earned by more than 2.3 million people across the United States.

This brief provides a general overview of the two Healthy Marriage (HM) grantees involved in the Parents and Children Together Evaluation (PACT), provides participation rates in services, and documents how the two grantees integrated job and career advancement services for parenting couples into their programs. This brief uses data obtained through staff interviews and program observations during site visits; ongoing interactions with program leadership; and data from a management information system that programs use to record data on couples’ receipt of services. (author abstract)

The Center for Postsecondary and Economic Success at CLASP released a paper that explores "stackable credentials," which is defined by the Department of Labor as a series of credentials that accumulate to build an individual's qualifications for advancement on a career pathway. The paper discusses some of the barriers to acquiring multiple educational and occupations credentials, pulling from data collected in Kentucky, Oregon, Virginia, and Wisconsin. The paper also outlines the ways in which these states are working to increase credential attainment for their residents.

The National Poverty Center released a working paper bibliography that summarizes research on the structure and effectiveness of workforce development programs. The paper covers evidence on the overall effectiveness of job training and other active labor market programs, several proposals to improve them, and the impact of the Great Recession on workforce development in the U.S. It also discusses the growing skills and earnings gaps between rich and poor Americans, and provides evidence on training and advancement programs.

The Connecticut Employment & Training Commission released a report describing the most prominent State strategies for building and promoting career pathways. These strategies were pulled from a review of literature on career advancement strategies for low-skilled workers over the last decade.