Learn about the Census Bureau's Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes (PSEO) Data
What Are The Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes (PSEO) Data?
The Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes (PSEO) data are an experimental data product developed by the U. S. Census Bureau’s Center for Economic Studies that provides earnings and employment outcomes for college and university graduates by degree level, degree major, and post-secondary institution. The data are generated by matching university transcript data from participating universities with a national database of jobs compiled by the Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics Program (LEHD) at the Census Bureau. The Census Bureau uses differential privacy, a state-of-the-art confidentiality protection mechanism, to protect the confidentiality of individuals’ data.
Users can explore PSEO data using the PSEO Explorer, an online interactive data visualization tool developed by the Census Bureau. Public-use data files and information about the PSEO can be found here.
Which Connecticut Colleges and Universities Are Included in The PSEO?
To be included in the PSEO database, post-secondary institutions must sign a data sharing agreement with the U.S. Census Bureau and share university transcript data. The PSEO database currently includes graduates from 27 post-secondary institutions in Connecticut, representing an estimated 64% of all graduates in the state. However, the program is still expanding and more institutions may share data in the future.
The Connecticut colleges and universities currently included in the PSEO are listed in the searchable table to the right (scroll through the table pages to review the full list).
What Can Users Learn From The PSEO?
Using the PSEO Explorer, users can view earnings and employment data on graduates from any of the institutions that submitted data to the PSEO. Many colleges and universities in Connecticut have data for cohorts of students who graduated in 2001 through 2018.
The PSEO Explorer allows users to visualize outcomes for different instructional programs within each institution. For example, a college student could explore median annual earnings and employment outcomes for graduates with different majors at their college or university to help them decide on a major, or a prospective student could explore outcomes for graduates with the same major across different colleges and universities.
Earnings outcomes can be displayed by years since graduation (1, 5, or 10 years) or by earnings percentiles (25th, 50th, or 75th percentile) for each instructional program at each institution. For example, the chart below uses PSEO data to compare median annual earnings for graduates of Central Connecticut State University with bachelor's degrees in education, business/management/marketing, or health professions at 1, 5, and 10 years post-graduation. This chart can be viewed in the Census Bureau’s PSEO Explorer here.
The PSEO Explorer can also display the industry and geographic location of employment for graduates of each instructional program at 1, 5, and 10 years post-graduation. For example, the graph below generated by the PSEO Explorer shows that, of individuals who graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Education from Central Connecticut State University and who were employed one year post-graduation, 93% were employed in Connecticut and 64% were employed in the educational services industry. Hovering over the bar in the PSEO Explorer’s interactive graph additionally reveals that 60% were employed in educational services in Connecticut.
Users can graph outcomes for different institutions, degree levels, or graduation cohorts using drop-down selection boxes in the PSEO Explorer, or users can download the public-use data files and create their own custom charts.
What Are Some Strengths and Limitations of The PSEO Data?
Strengths:
The PSEO links all graduates of participating post-secondary institutions with a large national database of earnings and employment data that can track graduates’ outcomes across state lines.
Limitations:
Some Connecticut post-secondary institutions do not currently have 5- or 10-year outcome data available, for example the University of Connecticut only has data through 5 years post-graduation.
Currently, the PSEO only provides public data at the level of individual institutions. Future data releases may provide data aggregated across institutions.
Do You Have Feedback on The PSEO Data?
Share your thoughts on the PSEO data with the Census Bureau at CES.PSEO.Feedback@census.gov.