Career and Technical Education: A Primer

Career and technical education (CTE), sometimes referred to as vocational education, provides secondary and postsecondary education students with the skills and knowledge required for specific jobs or fields of work. CTE is a key element of the nation’s workforce development system, providing students with both academic and technical skills to succeed in further education and future careers. Federal investments in CTE aim to increase the number of individuals with recognized postsecondary credentials, including industry-recognized credentials, in order to reduce unemployment, improve individual earnings, and benefit the nation’s economy. This report provides a primer on CTE to support congressional discussion of initiatives designed to improve workforce development and to address skills deficits that may exist in the workforce. (For information on the primary federal program that funds CTE programs, see CRS Report R47071, Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act (Perkins V): A Primer.) CTE is commonly organized into 14 career clusters that help design career pathways and programs of study and coordinate them with employment opportunities. These clusters include several occupational areas, such as health care and advanced manufacturing. Career clusters are groupings of industry sectors with commonalities, and there are multiple career pathways within each cluster. Career pathways and programs of study combine high quality education, training, and other services that help individuals to secure the postsecondary credentials needed to obtain employment within an occupational area, or to advance to a higher level of education. As it can be difficult to anticipate the precise technical skills needed by future occupations, general education and academic skills remain a critical component of secondary and postsecondary CTE programs. At the secondary level, CTE is commonly offered in high schools, area CTE centers, and detention centers. According to the most recent available federal data, the vast majority (85%) of 2019 public and private high school graduates attained at least one CTE unit. CTE courses can broaden students’ education and provide early exposure to several career options. They can also facilitate students’ entry into the workforce immediately after high school by equipping them with a recognized postsecondary credential upon completion of a CTE program. Similarly, secondary CTE courses can prepare students for an additional one to two years of postsecondary education or training that leads to a postsecondary credential. At the postsecondary level, CTE is commonly offered by community colleges, by trade schools, and by employers through apprenticeships and on-the-job training. Postsecondary CTE programs commonly lead to credentials at or below the associate’s degree level. Some CTE programs are terminal (i.e., few courses are transferable for credit toward a more advanced credential), while others may be stackable (i.e., part of a sequence of programs leading to more advanced credentials). Earning stackable credentials is intended to increase the odds of securing employment and of garnering higher wages once employed. There is a limited body of rigorous research that isolates the benefits of CTE. Wage premiums for earning CTE credentials vary depending on the program of study. For example, certificates and associate’s degrees in more technical CTE fields such as computer and information services are associated with higher earnings than certificates and associate’s degrees in less technical CTE fields such as business. Programs in fields such as information technology are becoming more popular at both the secondary and postsecondary levels, as they yield higher wage returns. Shorter-term benefits associated with CTE include a greater likelihood of graduating high school. Though both the short- and long-term returns of certain types of postsecondary CTE credentials (e.g., health sciences, cosmetology, and protective services) are positive on average, earnings for those who only hold a certificate are more sensitive to economic conditions than earnings for individuals with associate’s degrees. Wage returns to certificates vary depending upon the program of study, institution type, and local labor market conditions.