BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Carol Liu, Chair
2013-2014 Regular Session
BILL NO: SB 1022
AUTHOR: Huff
INTRODUCED: February 14, 2014
FISCAL COMM: Yes HEARING DATE: April 9, 2014
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT:Kathleen Chavira
SUBJECT : Labor Market Outcome Information
SUMMARY
This bill requires the California State University (CSU),
and requests the University of California (UC), to provide
labor market outcome information on their graduates
including, but not limited to, salary data and the
distribution of employers by industry, to make this
information publicly available on the internet websites of
the respective segments by June 1, 2016, and to update it
annually by June 1.
BACKGROUND
Current law requires the director of the Employment
Development Department to permit the use of any information
in his or her possession to the extent necessary for any of
several specified purposes, including:
To enable the Chancellor of the California
Community Colleges (CCC) to obtain quarterly wage
data, on students who have attended one or more
community colleges, to assess the impact of education
on the employment and earnings of students, to conduct
the annual evaluation of district-level and individual
college performance in achieving priority educational
outcomes, and to submit required reports to the
Legislature and the Governor.
To enable the California Department of Education,
the UC, the CSU, and the Chancellor of the CCC,
pursuant to specified federal law requirements to
obtain quarterly wage data, commencing July 1, 2010,
on students who have attended their respective systems
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to assess the impact of education on the employment
and earnings of those students, to conduct the annual
analysis of district-level and individual district or
postsecondary education system performance in
achieving priority educational outcomes, and to submit
the required reports to the Legislature and the
Governor.
This information is to be provided to the extent permitted
by federal statutes and regulations. (Unemployment
Insurance Code 1095)
ANALYSIS
This bill :
1) Requires the CSU and requests the UC to publicly
provide labor market outcome information relating to
their graduates. More specifically it:
a) Requires that the information
include, but not be limited to, salary
information and the distribution of employers by
industry.
b) Requires that the information
provided use data that includes, but is not
limited to, information provided by the
Employment Development Department and the
segment's own databases.
c) Requires that the information meet all the
following requirements:
i) Be presented in terms
of easily understood labor market measures.
ii) Be aggregated to the systemwide
level and disaggregated to the campus level
and by particular areas of study.
iii) Provide data relating to graduates
one or two years and five years after
graduation.
d) Requires that the educational
institutions, in collecting and publishing this
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data, adhere to all pertinent state and federal
privacy laws.
2) Requires that the information be made publicly
available on the respective segments internet
websites:
a) No later than June 1, 2016.
b) And updated annually thereafter by June 1.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Need for the bill . According to the author, policy
makers should ensure that students are armed with
accurate data and information about the labor market.
Giving students a picture of college graduate salary
earnings and industry placement will allow students to
make thoughtful, data-driven decisions about where and
what they want to study. The intent of this
legislation is to provide information similar to that
provided by the California Community Colleges through
their Salary Surfer.
2) Community College Salary Surfer . The Community
College Salary Surfer is a web application, designed
for students and families, that provides an estimate
on the potential median wages to be earned after
completing a degree or certificate in 179 of the most
widely enrolled disciplines. To accomplish this,
community college student records from the
Chancellor's Office Management Information system are
joined with California Employment Development
Department wage records. The Salary Surfer uses the
aggregated earnings of graduates from a five year
period to provide an estimate on the potential wages
to be earned two years and five years after receiving
a certificate or degree in certain disciplines. It
also calculates earnings two years prior to the
receipt of the certificate or degree, and provides
information on which colleges offer programs in those
specific disciplines. The Chancellor's Office notes
that the reported earnings include wages for any type
of employment a student may have had regardless of the
industry or occupation, thus the reported wages are
not necessarily from an occupation associated with the
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student's award or discipline. Wage information is
updated annually in June.
3) Author's intent . In response to concerns about the
need for clarification of the bill's intent, the
author has expressed a desire to amend the bill with
the following language:
It is the intent of the Legislature that the impact of
public postsecondary education on the employment and
earnings of students be made publicly available to
students and families consistently across segments, to
the extent possible.
Staff recommends the bill be amended to incorporate
this intent language.
4) Consistent provisions . The public information
provided on the Salary Surfer does not provide
information by employer, nor is it disaggregated to
the campus level. Additionally, the Salary Surfer
calculates earnings two years prior to receiving an
award as a basis for comparison of earnings before and
after completion of the degree or certificate.
If the intent of this bill is to provide information
consistent with that provided by the Community College
Salary Surfer, staff recommends the following
amendments:
a) On page 2 line 7, delete "and the
distribution of employers,"
b) On page 2 line 16 and 17, delete "as well as
disaggregated to the campus level"
c) On page 2, line 21, after "graduation"
insert "and six years prior to receipt of their
degree" to reflect the amount of time that the
majority of baccalaureate degree holders will
take to complete their degrees.
5) Longer term data . According to the UC and CSU, wage
information over a 10 year period is possible and
provides valuable information about the long-term
trend of wages and employment of their graduates.
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Staff recommends the bill be amended on page 2 line 21
to additionally encourage the provision of data beyond
five years.
6) Graduate student information ? Under the bill's
provisions, both the UC and the CSU would report the
specified information on their graduate students.
While graduate students at the CSU could primarily be
California residents pursuing master's degrees, the
population of graduate students at the UC would
include a diverse group of students pursuing masters,
doctoral and professional school degrees, and could
include a large number of international and
out-of-state students. As a result, labor market
outcome data for UC graduates could be limited and may
not accurately reflect student or industry earnings.
Would some UC graduate student information be better
than none? Should UC and CSU graduate student data be
treated differently? How helpful would the more
limited, potentially misleading UC data be for
students and families?
SUPPORT
Associated Students, Inc. of California State University
Long Beach
California Communities United Institute
California EDGE Coalition
Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles
Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce
North Bay Leadership Council
Orange County Business Council
Regional Economic Association Leaders (REAL) Coalition
San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce
San Jose State University Lobby Corps
SIATech
Southern California College Access Network
OPPOSITION
None received.
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