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Discussion Paper
Interpreting Unemployment Data in the Time of COVID-19
Policy changes and the unique nature of the COVID-19 pandemic may impact the way labor market health is evaluated going forward.
Discussion Paper
Hispanic Postsecondary Enrollment Increases Throughout the Fifth District
Colleges and universities across the country have become more racially and ethnically diverse over the last decade. While 62.6 percent of students enrolled in higher education in the U.S. identified as white in 2010, that rate had fallen to 54.0 percent in 2020. (Note: throughout the article, white refers to non-Hispanic white and Black refers to non-Hispanic Black.) The percentage of students identifying as Black also fell, declining from 15.0 percent in 2010 to 13.1 percent in 2020. So which minority groups experienced growth? While the Asian share of enrollment grew from 6.3 percent to 7.7 ...
Journal Article
District Digest: Preparing to Work: The Demand for Postsecondary Education and How It's Changing
Starting around a decade before the COVID-19 pandemic, and more acutely during the pandemic itself, postsecondary enrollment declined — most notably among community colleges, both in the Fifth District and in the United States as a whole. Yet the 2023-2024 academic year saw a shift in that trend as enrollment grew once again. What's going on?The unsatisfying answer is that there are conflicting forces at work, and it's hard to tell which will prevail. But one thing is clear: Combined with the anticipated decline in the college-age population, high costs of four-year degrees, and changing ...
Discussion Paper
Interpreting Unemployment Data in the Time of COVID-19
Since mid-March, a record number of people have become unemployed and filed for unemployment benefits. While both the unemployment rate and the number of unemployment insurance claims have fallen since the peak in April, the number of unemployment claims has been falling at a much slower rate. Policy changes and the unique nature of the COVID-19 pandemic have led to this deviation and may impact the way labor market health is evaluated going forward.
Discussion Paper
Results From the Survey of Community College Outcomes Extended Pilot
After three years of developing partnerships with community colleges across the Fifth District, we are proud to release our first-year results from our extended pilot of the Survey of Community College Outcomes.When the Richmond Fed launched this initiative, the most common question we heard from community colleges was, "Why does the Richmond Fed care about community colleges?" The answer is that the Richmond Fed cares about workforce development, and community colleges play a vital role across the Fifth District providing individuals with the skills needed to participate in the workforce.
Discussion Paper
Community College Enrollment in Fall 2020: What We Know So Far
Discussion Paper
Unemployment Benefits and Changes under the CARES Act
As part of the U.S. response to COVID-19, unemployment insurance recipients are receiving increased weekly payments. For many individuals in the Fifth District, these enhanced unemployment benefits are greater than the wages they earned while at work.
Journal Article
Male Labor Force Participation: Patterns and Trends