With increased scrutiny of the value of higher education, researchers and policymakers seek reliable data to understand how postsecondary credentials translate into labor market outcomes. The US Census Bureau’s Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes (PSEO) dataset offers a powerful tool for addressing these questions, enabling new inquiries into graduate earnings, geographic mobility, and workforce alignment across states.

In a new report, “How Researchers Use the PSEO Data to Study Postsecondary Outcomes and Inform Policy,” published here and on the PSEO Coalition website, we examine how scholars, systems, and agencies leverage PSEO to answer key policy questions. This report was commissioned by the PSEO Coalition, which brings together state, system, and institutional partners committed to expanding access to and use of PSEO data as a foundational tool for data-informed decision-making. It was completed as part of an ongoing research collaboration between the Coalition and Ithaka S+R.

Why PSEO data matters

The PSEO dataset links individual-level student transcript records from colleges and universities to wage data from the US Census Bureau’s Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics (LEHD) program. This linkage enables program-level earnings analyses at one, five, and 10 years post-graduation and, critically, tracks where graduates work, even when they move across state lines. That national reach fills a long-standing gap in federal and state data systems, which often capture only in-state employment.

Since its 2017 pilot with the University of Texas System, PSEO has expanded to include more than 1,000 institutions in over 35 states. The dataset now supports analyses that explore not only graduate earnings but also interstate migration patterns, regional labor market alignment, and the longer-term value of postsecondary credentials. As participation continues growing, with plans to include 45 states by 2030, the dataset is becoming an essential resource for education policy research.

What makes PSEO data unique

PSEO stands out among postsecondary data tools for several key reasons:

  • It includes all graduates, not just those receiving federal financial aid.
  • It tracks employment and earnings across state lines, overcoming a key limitation of many State Longitudinal Data Systems (SLDS).
  • It offers earnings at one, five, and 10 years post-graduation, broken out by degree level and field of study.
  • It includes earnings distributions (25th, 50th, and 75th percentiles), allowing for more nuanced analyses.
  • It links to geographic location and employment industry, enabling research on labor market fit and workforce development.

These features make PSEO a unique dataset for examining how graduates transition into the workforce and for supporting cross-state, program-level, and sector-specific research on postsecondary outcomes.

Key themes emerging from the research

Our review identifies several significant ways that researchers and policymakers are using the PSEO data:

  • Earnings Outcomes by Program and Institution: Studies have used PSEO data to compare graduate earnings across fields of study, degree levels, and institutions. Not surprisingly, analyses have shown that graduates in high-demand fields, such as engineering and computer science, earn more than their peers in other fields; however, these differences change over time.
  • Migration and Geographic Mobility: PSEO’s inclusion of information about whether a graduate works in-state or not enables researchers to examine trends in graduate migration. Analyses from Indiana and New York, for example, show how institutions retain or lose talent to other states, a critical consideration for workforce planning.
  • Labor Market Alignment: Researchers are just beginning to utilize PSEO data to assess the alignment between postsecondary programs and regional labor markets. To a limited extent, these studies can identify mismatches between credential supply and employer demand, informing more responsive higher education planning. However, there is a limitation in that PSEO data only reports on the industry in which graduates work, not the occupation they hold.
  • Comparative Analysis and Methodological Advances: PSEO data have also supported methodological work comparing different data sources, including the College Scorecard and traditional State Longitudinal Data Systems (SLDSs). Because PSEO encompasses all graduates, not just Title IV aid recipients, and includes employment data that spans state lines, it provides a more comprehensive picture of the employment outcomes for all graduates.

Challenges and opportunities

While PSEO is a robust dataset, limitations remain. The current public version lacks demographic breakdowns by race, ethnicity, sex, or income; however, appropriately disaggregated data by race and ethnicity, as well as by sex, is expected to be available starting in 2026. The data also do not include information about graduates’ occupations because most state systems do not include the information, making it challenging to evaluate program-to-job alignment in detail.

Despite these gaps, the future of PSEO is promising. Planned improvements include new linkages to IRS records to improve data coverage and accuracy. Complementary efforts, such as the Coleridge Initiative and Multi-State Data Collaborative of the National Association of State Workforce Agencies (NASWA), which encourage secure cross-state data sharing, further expand the opportunities for understanding postsecondary outcomes beyond graduation nationally.

Where do we go from here?

This literature review marks an early step in providing information to the PSEO Coalition toward developing a national research agenda focused on postsecondary education and workforce outcomes. While analysts and researchers have utilized the PSEO dataset to address important questions, there are still significant opportunities to expand the use of PSEO data in its current format to inform policy. The structure of the PSEO collection also demonstrates the power of federal, state, and institutional-level partnerships to enhance the national education-to-work data infrastructure. The strength of this approach should also be highlighted as a model for future data efforts. Looking ahead, four priorities stand out:

  • Expand Research in Underexplored Areas: Future analysis could utilize PSEO to examine long-term earnings across the full distribution, explore graduate migration by credential and industry, analyze labor mobility and demand dynamics, and assess the broader economic impacts of higher education.
  • Support Research on Credentials of Value: With field-of-study-level earnings data for all graduates, PSEO is uniquely positioned to help identify which credentials lead to strong early- and mid-career outcomes across institutions and geographies.
  • Inform State Attainment and Workforce Goals: States can use PSEO to evaluate not only completion but also whether graduates remain in-state, align with workforce needs, and contribute to regional economic development.
  • Strengthen the National Postsecondary Data Ecosystem: PSEO exemplifies the value of collaboration among federal, state, and institutional stakeholders. Its secure, privacy-protected model for linking transcript and earnings data offers a blueprint for sustainable, cross-sector data systems.

We look forward to collaborating with others to explore the full potential of PSEO data and inform the Coalition’s strategy to achieve its vision of supporting the growth, sustainability, and utilization of the data to inform good policy and students’ educational and career decisions. We encourage you to read the full report and learn more about the Coalition on their website.