Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

Workforce development practitioners commonly promote career ladders as a means of enabling upward advancement for low- and middle-skill workers. However, a lack of longitudinal data on workers’ actual careers limits the ability for practitioners, policy makers and researchers to track and measure mobility at an occupational level. This paper uses 3.7 million resumes of middle-skill workers, sourced from a variety of Burning Glass partners, including recruitment and staffing agencies, workforce agencies, and job boards, to determine which specific occupations lead to advancement and which are dead ends. Based on the average salary rates and frequency of advancement into higher paying roles from each occupation, we then characterize occupations as one of three types. “Springboard jobs”, commonly lead to advancement into higher paying roles; “lifetime jobs”, pay well and offer a high level of stability for workers; or “static jobs”, which have low pay and low likelihood of advancement. We also assess which degrees and certifications are most associated with advancement. Our findings and the novel use of resume data have implications for training providers, policymakers, and researchers who are looking to understand career pathways at scale and translate that understanding into actionable policy.