Recipient Organization
PURDUE UNIVERSITY
(N/A)
WEST LAFAYETTE,IN 47907
Performing Department
College of Agriculture
Non Technical Summary
The proposed project entitled "Employment Opportunities for College Graduates in Food, Agriculture, Renewable Natural Resources, and the Environment, United States, 2025 - 2030" will be a comprehensive study that provides a five-year national projection of employment opportunities for Bachelor of Science (B.S.) college graduates (B.S. degree or higher) in food, agriculture, renewable natural resources, and the environment. This will be the tenth edition in the series of successful and widely utilized reports dating back to 1980. The target audience for the report includes USDA, NIFA, university, industry, and non-governmental organization representatives, and other stakeholders.Employment opportunities that require college graduates with expertise to enter occupations in food, agriculture, renewable natural resources, and the environment will primarily be based upon ten-year occupational projections maintained by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor. Other sources of data on demand for graduates in these fields will be evaluated.Classification of Instruction Programs (CIPS) codes, graduation data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) within the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) of the U.S. Department of Education, and enrollment data compiled by the Food and Agricultural Education Information System (FAEIS) will be utilized to determine the number of graduates available to fill jobs in the food, agriculture, renewable natural resources, and environmental fields.A diverse panel of education and industry experts across the United States will assist the project investigators and consultants in interpreting the data, and in providing recommendations on content to be included in a summary report. The report will be made available through print and electronic media, and will be disseminated to USDA, NIFA, university, industry, and non-governmental organization representatives, and to other stakeholders.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
The primary objective of the proposed project entitled "Employment Opportunities for College Graduates in Food, Agriculture, Renewable Natural Resources, and the Environment, United States, 2025-2030" is to provide a comprehensive study and a five-year national projection of employment opportunities for Bachelor of Science (B.S.) college graduates in the food, agriculture, renewable natural resources, and the environment career fields. This will be the tenth edition in the series of successful and widely utilized reports dating back to 1980. A secondary objective is to continue the consistency of this report in the data and methods enabling evaluation of trends, while includingrefinements in methods and data as appropriate.
Project Methods
Data and methods consistently used in the previous nine employment opportunities reports will be used for the tenth edition report. Previous data sources include the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) of the U.S. Department of Education, and the Food and Agricultural Education Information System (FAEIS).It is planned that these sources will again be used to develop baseline projections of supply and demand for talent. A systematic and thorough review of available data resources and publications will be conducted and used to inform research methods and decisions of the report authors. Following the systematic review of available data/research, refinements to previously used processes and new methods will be discussed, considered, and incorporated also. An on-staff, experienced data manager/analyst and outside consultant assistance will be used to examine data available, access data, and manage data. Project principal investigators will explore statistical modeling and will consult with existing colleagues for econometric modeling and deeper analyses of data.Project principal investigators will serve as three of the report authors and will identify approximately two to three additional appropriate report authors. Project principal investigators will identify a diverse group of experts to serve on the Advisory Panel of Experts, including colleagues from academia, at least one partner from industry, a NIFA data analyst, and a NIFA content expert. Consideration will also be given to non-profit and extension representation on the Advisory Panel of Experts.Employment OpportunitiesEmployment opportunities that require college graduates with expertise to enter occupations in the food, agriculture, renewable natural resources, and environmental employment sectors will be determined from data maintained by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). Ten-year projected annual employment opportunities are reported for each occupation included in the BLS taxonomy. Alternative sources of data on employment demand in these fields will also be explored as a refinement/extension of prior reports.Consistent with prior reports, report authors and consultants to the project will select occupations that would be expected to require college graduates with expertise to work in the food, agriculture, renewable natural resources, and environment employment sectors. Report authors and consultants to the project will calculate average annual job openings for each selected occupation, representing one-tenth of the 10-year BLS projections.For each selected occupation, report authors and consultants to the project will determine the percentage of the average annual job openings that would require graduates having expertise in food, agriculture, renewable natural resources, and environment academic specialties. Average annual employment opportunities for each selected occupation will be determined from these percentage estimates.Report authors and consultants to the project will assign percentages of the annual employment openings in each selected occupation to the four projected occupational clusters of Management and Business, Science and Engineering, Agricultural and Forestry Production, and Education, Communication, and Governmental Services.Refinements to these data and methods will be reviewed and incorporated as part of this study. Specifically, refinements that allow more disaggregated presentation of job openings by job type, and job openings by geographic region, will be addressed.GraduatesNumbers of graduates - baccalaureate degree and higher - for food, agriculture, renewable natural resources, and environment positions in the United States will be determined using the most recent available data for degrees conferred from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) surveys conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) of the U.S. Department of Education. The NCES data include postsecondary degrees conferred by all accredited public and private universities in the United States. Graduates are classified by degree level, degree specialization, and selected demographic characteristics.Agriculture and Natural Resources GraduatesFrom the NCES Classification of Instructional Programs (CIPS) 2010, report authors and consultants will select degree specializations that are offered by colleges of agriculture and life sciences, forestry and natural resources, and veterinary medicine.Report authors and consultants will use historical graduate employment information and expert opinion to estimate the percentage of qualified graduates by degree specialization who are expected to enter occupations in the food, agriculture, renewable natural resources, and environment employment sectors. The report authors and consultants will focus on four occupational clusters for the purpose of categorizing graduates with degree specializations into four broad areas of expertise. The projected clusters are Management and Business, Science and Engineering, Agricultural and Forestry Production, and Education, Communication, and Governmental Services. This categorization aligns with previous employment reports.Adjustments will be made to the total number of graduates to compensate for baccalaureate and master's graduates whom continue their education and for degree recipients who otherwise do not enter the labor force including foreign graduates who return to the home country. Additional adjustments may be made to the projected numbers of agriculture and natural resources graduates using recent enrollment data trends reported by the Food and Agricultural Education Information System.Report authors and consultants will assign percentages of graduates in each selected degree specialization to the four projected occupational clusters of Management and Business, Science and Engineering, Agricultural and Forestry Production, and Education, Communication, and Governmental Services. The potential for further disaggregation of these summary statistics by job type and by geographic region will be explored.Allied GraduatesFrom the NCES Classification of Instructional Programs (CIPS) 2010, report authors and consultants will select degree specializations that are offered by colleges of biological sciences, engineering, health sciences, business, communication, etc. whom are expected to compete with agriculture and natural resources graduates for employment.Report authors and educator consultants will use historical graduate employment information and expert opinion to estimate the percentage of graduates by degree specialization who are expected to enter occupations in the food, agriculture, renewable natural resources, and environment employment sectors. The report authors and educator consultants will use four occupational clusters for the purpose of categorizing graduates with degree specializations into four broad areas of expertise. The projected clusters are Management and Business, Science and Engineering, Agricultural and Forestry Production, and Education, Communication, and Governmental Services.Adjustments will be made to the total number of graduates to compensate for baccalaureate and master's graduates whom continue their education and for degree recipients who otherwise do not enter the labor force including foreign graduates who return to the home country.Consistent with earlier reports, report authors and consultants to the project will assign percentages of qualified graduates in each selected degree specialization to the four projected occupational clusters of Management and Business, Science and Engineering, Agricultural and Forestry Production, and Education, Communication, and Governmental Services. The potential for further disaggregation of these summary statistics by job type and by geographic region will be addressed.