| Previous technical preparation (TP) research has focused on academic outcomes, but has not adequately incorporated economic outcomes such as alignment of programs with labor market needs. The purpose of this study was to address this gap in the literature. Vocationalism, an emerging model which proposes stronger linkages between school and work by combining vocational and liberal education in a secondary-postsecondary articulation sequence, served as the theoretical basis of the study. The research questions addressed by the exploratory study included determining if a relationship currently existed between training programs and labor market needs, and how programs could be better aligned with labor market needs. Regression analyses were used to examine the relationships connecting all current TP programs with current and projected jobs in Cochise County, Arizona. In these analyses, program enrollment capacities served as the dependent variable and current and projected jobs in the county were the independent variables. No relationships were found. The second research question focused on how programs could be aligned with labor market needs. Job quotients, which divide the number of jobs related to each program by the number of students offered access to that program, were used to test the alignment of programs with need. Analysis of the job quotients indicated wide variances among programs in the numbers of students trained relative to the number of related jobs. The central conclusion of the study emphasizes the need to align worker training to specific job markets. Doing so would lead to graduates being better able to find work locally and to local employers being better able to recruit them. This will also lead to price level stability, reduced taxes, lower recruitment and training costs, and the avoidance of labor shortages that place upward pressure on wages. |
