From Higher Education to Work in West Virginia 2014

In this report we provide a comprehensive analysis of employment and income outcomes for men and women who graduated from a public higher educational institution in West Virginia and who stay within the state to work after graduation.Key findings of this research are as follows: Overview  Of the 118,242 students who graduated from public higher education in West Virginia in the last decade, 56,562 were working in West Virginia in 2012, which translates into a work participation rate of 47.8 percent.  Work participation rates typically decline as the time since graduation increases. Graduates who work in the state earned an average income of $41,847 in 2012.Average income tends to rise as the time since graduation increases. In-state students, identified by their residency for fee purposes, were far more likely to work in the state after graduation than out-of-state students. Degree Earned and Area of Concentration Graduates who earned an associate's degree were most likely to work in West Virginia after graduation with a work participation rate of 65.3 percent.Work participation rates for those earning a bachelor's, master's, or doctoral professional practice degrees were in the 40-percent range. Income for associate's degree graduates was lowest among all degree categories ($34,475).Income for bachelor's degree holders was only slightly above that of associate's degree holders ($36,499).However, income was significantly higher for master's degree recipients ($50,993) and even more so for graduates with doctoral professional practice degrees ($106,612). Business, management, and marketing was the largest area of concentration among all West Virginia graduates in the past decade, with 18,631 graduates.Health professions graduates were only slightly behind in number with 18,480 graduates.  Work participation and income vary significantly based on area of concentration.vi Personal Characteristics: Gender, Age, and Race  Women represent the majority (57 percent) of public higher education graduates in West Virginia over the past decade, and women exhibit a significantly higher work participation rate (52.6 percent for women compared with 42.2 percent for men). There exists a significant income gap between men and women graduates who work in the state: Men who work in the state earn more than 30 percent more than women, and this wage gap exists for virtually every area of concentration. Work participation is generally higher for those who were between the ages of 30 and 55 when they earned their last degree, compared to those who were outside of that range. Work participation and income vary significantly across racial categories. Academic Achievement Work participation exhibits a modest tendency to rise with college GPA. Graduates with higher ACT scores exhibit significantly lower work participation rates than those with lower ACT scores. Income tends to rise with academic achievement: higher ACT scores and GPA are associated with higher incomes broadly. The income premium associated with higher ACT scores is persistent as time since graduation increases; however, the income premium associated with a higher GPA diminishes as time since graduation increases. Tuition Assistance Work participation rates for graduates who received a PROMISE scholarship (59.6 percent) or need-based grants from the Higher Education Grant Program (65.5 percent) were significantly higher than the overall rate of 47.8 percent. Low-income students who received federal Pell grants had an overall work participation rate of 56.2, also well above the overall rate. Income for PROMISE, HEGP graduates, and Pell grant recipients tends to be lower than the overall average.vii Industry  Among all graduates of the state's public higher education institutions, more than half were employed in just two industries: health care and social assistance (27.0 percent of all graduates); and educational services (23.4 percent). Graduates were less likely than overall workers statewide to be employed in retail trade; accommodations and food services; construction; manufacturing; and mining. Graduates with associate's degrees were clustered heavily in the health care field.Educational services was by far the top industry for graduates with a master's degree, while graduates with bachelor's degrees worked in a much wider variety of industries. Graduates working in mining earned the highest income, averaging $71,400 annually.Utilities; management; manufacturing; and wholesale trade round out the top five income categories. The lowest paid industries included arts, entertainment and recreation; accommodation and food services; administration and waste services; retail trade; and other services. County and Metropolitan Area Graduates were highly concentrated in Kanawha, Monongalia, and Cabell counties; 39 percent of graduates worked in these three counties. Counties with larger shares of total employment and population attracted larger numbers of graduates.Graduates were over-represented in counties with larger metropolitan areas and institutions of higher education. Metropolitan counties attracted the largest numbers of graduates and had higher wages overall than nonmetropolitan counties.Of the graduates employed in the state in 2012, nearly 65 percent worked in counties that were part of a Metropolitan Statistical Area. The Charleston MSA employed the largest number of graduates with 21.4 percent of graduates employed in the state.The Charleston MSA also had the highest average annual income, at $37,256. The average annual income for micropolitan counties nearly equaled that of metropolitan counties, while incomes in nonmetropolitan counties were lower.