TY  - JOUR
AB  - States increasingly use financial aid policy to steer students into designated high-demand workforce fields, yet evidence on whether these fields offer stronger labor-market pathways remains limited. We study Virginia's Get a Skill, Get a Job, Get Ahead (G3) initiative, which provides tuition-free community college to income-eligible students in high-demand workforce areas. Using linked community college and quarterly earnings records, we compare 2016--2020 first-time-in-college entrants in workforce programs that later became G3-eligible with entrants in non-G3 workforce programs. Student fixed-effects event-study models show that initially-designated workforce fields are associated with higher post-entry earnings for men, especially in skilled trades/manufacturing and public safety, but not broad employment gains. Women experience limited earnings gains and employment declines in several future G3 fields. Program-aligned employment increases for both women and men, suggesting
AU  - Bonilla, Sade
AU  - Sparks, Daniel
PY  - 2026
ST  - Aligned Pathways, Unequal Earnings: Gendered Transitions from Community College to Work
TI  - Aligned Pathways, Unequal Earnings: Gendered Transitions from Community College to Work
UR  - http://www.edworkingpapers.com/ai26-1635
ER  -