Community colleges are kind of underrated

0:01Sierra Juarez:NPR.

0:06Sierra Juarez:Hey, Robert, I love these anniversary balloons. Thank you. Are you celebrating the 250th anniversary of the United States? Oh, no. I totally forgotten about the Sester Centennial. I think they're calling it the semi-quincentennial. To each his own. But no, these balloons are my yearly celebration of the anniversary of the very first beige book. in 1970. The Beige Book. Of course, our favorite government document filled with juicy anecdotes about the economy from around the U.S. It was just as juicy 56 years ago when it started, although back in those days, it was a secret report that only people at the Federal Reserve got to read.

0:48Now, of course, everyone can celebrate it. And what is the standard way

0:52Sierra Juarez:to celebrate the Beige Book? Fireworks? A beige arch in front of the NPR building? How about an award show?

1:05It's the Beigy Awards, our eight times a year salute to the art and science of telling stories about the economy. I'm Robert Smith.

1:14Sierra Juarez:I'm Adrian Ma, and eight times a year, they call that an octonary. Nice. Today on the show, we look at one way workers are reacting to the nervous job market right now. The Declaration of Independence says we have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. and we find a magical place where some job seekers are finding all three. It's a community college. After the break.

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3:01There are 12 regional banks in the Federal Reserve System. Each one studies their local economy and brings back these little stories of what they see. They publish them in a document known as the Beige Book, and we give awards to the best stories.

3:14Sierra Juarez:First, the runner-ups. Two of the best stories we read in the most recent Beige Book were about the construction industry. High interest rates have been slowing down new home sales in some parts of the country, and so we're giving a shared runner-up award to the Atlanta Fed and the Cleveland Fed. First, the Atlanta Fed, who wrote, quote, Builders reported sharp traffic declines and growing buyer hesitancy. One builder noted that even at lower price points, they can't give a house away. Yeesh. This is especially sad for those of us who live in expensive cities where we would like a free house. I know.

3:50New York weeps with jealousy. And maybe because of those low sales in some parts of the country, workers in the construction industry are worried about cooling demand for their skills. Our other runner-up award goes to this line from the Cleveland Fed. Quote, one construction contact noted that employees were nervous and stressed. Yeah, you don't want people with nail guns being stressed. And you don't want them to leave the industry because housing is cyclical. Places with a slow housing market one year can't have a boom in construction the next year.

4:21Sierra Juarez:And this dilemma faced by workers in an uncertain economy is also the subject of our winning entry from the Beige Book. Envelope, please.

4:33Sierra Juarez:and the beigey goes to the Minneapolis Fed. Coming to the stage is Eric Garcia Luna from the Minneapolis Fed. We spoke to him on June 5th. Congratulations, Eric. Thank you, Robert. We are glad to be back on this stage. We appreciate it. I noticed you have a piece of paper in your hand. Did you prepare an acceptance speech? Oh, wait, it says disclaimer at the top. Disclaimer is that what I talk about here today is a reflection of my opinions and not those of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis or the Federal Reserve Board. Shorter than an acceptance speech. We'll take it. Eric, the Minneapolis Fed won for a very interesting anecdote that I think tells us something about the labor market.

5:17There's lots of nervousness out there because of the future of the job market, because of, well, you know, the list, AI tariffs. And you notice that workers are doing something about it. Here, let me read from the Beige Book entry. Quote, a community college contact noted that older adults were coming back to get a second credential to better compete for jobs. I will say this is something you often see during recessions or other times of job stress, people going back to community college. Do we know what they're going to study?

5:50Sierra Juarez:Where this anecdote particularly came from, in this region, you're seeing all this investment in health care infrastructure. And there is a lot of hiring going on in that sector. There are jobs that need to be filled. Not enough people to fill those jobs. And older workers are not in that. Community colleges are hot right now, growing faster nationwide than four-year colleges. So we decided to call a few of them in Minnesota and see if this checks out. And we ended up at Normandale Community College, south of Minneapolis. And we went right to the source, the new student enrollment coordinator, Tim LaPam.

6:27Sierra Juarez:So we've seen a pretty significant increase in adult students coming back to school. A 44 % increase over three years. And we've seen a lot of that in our health science cohorts, so our nursing, dental hygiene, and CNA programs. CNA is Certified Nursing Assistant. I looked it up. Tim says some of that is people who feel underemployed and are looking for better-paying professions. But we've also seen a lot of students being in jobs that weren't fulfilling for them and wanting to kind of come back to a career and find a space that is meaningful for them in some way. And then there are some students who are going back to school for both economic and emotional reasons, like William Leitzman.

7:09Sierra Juarez:He's 39 years old, taught English in South Korea for 15 years, and he was looking for a big change. I looked this up and he was like, nursing is one of the top fields. So I just thought, this seems smart. Okay, this seems logical. It feels right in my heart. And, you know, honestly, an associate's degree is not that expensive. William discovered that he could get a nursing degree, pass a test, and become a registered nurse for$12 ,000 total. Very affordable, but not easy. It's really hard. Nursing school is very, very difficult. Plus, William did have to get used to being an older student. Most of the students at Normandale Community College are under 25, and William was arriving in his upper 30s.

7:49Sierra Juarez:So I was a bit nervous, but honestly, everybody was really cool. You get invited to the parties? Yeah, some of them. I don't know if I got invited to all the parties. Not the young person's party. There's probably some I didn't know about. This is giving me flashbacks of my college experience. No, we totally didn't have parties without you, Adrian. Okay, all right. We asked William why he thought more older workers are coming back to community college. He did mention AI and thought some of it might be workers seeking an automation-proof job. But he also said that community college is just getting a better reputation these days.

8:21And it's becoming harder to justify the expense of a four-year college. Especially if you're trying to change careers.

8:27Sierra Juarez:Let's say you have a mortgage or you're raising a family or something like this. I would imagine it's really hard to rationalize spending tens of thousands of dollars. I especially think nursing is becoming really hot right now. It's kind of like the new tech degree. People might not agree with that. I think that's a solid take. I like it. Me too. Congratulations again to the Minneapolis Fed and Eric Garcia Luna, who alerted us to the community college boom in Minnesota. Eric, you gave your disclaimer, and I should give mine. My gratitude does indeed reflect the views of NPR, The Indicator, and the listeners.

9:03Thanks so much.

9:04Sierra Juarez:Thank you. Thank you for making sure we repeated that disclaimer. This episode was produced by Corey Bridges and Emma Ferrara and engineered by Jimmy Keely. It was fact-checked by Sierra Juarez. Cake and Cannon is our editor, and the indicators of production of NPR.

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