MDRC’s brief revisits the ongoing debate about whether TANF recipients are better served in the long term by finding work quickly or by first obtaining education and training to improve job prospects.  Hamilton and Michalopoulos present findings from three sites who take part in the National Evaluation of Welfare-to-Work Strategies (NEWWS), which randomly assigns participants to labor force attachment (LFA) programs or human capital development (HCD) programs to study the effects they have on participant employment.  Researchers followed up with participants for several years after program completion, comparing wages at years 1-2, years 3-5, and years 10-15.  In the short term, results show that LFA participants had higher earnings than HCD participants.  In the long run, HCD participants eventually surpassed LFA participants, but not in amounts that were statistically significant.  While both programs imporved the earnings of participants, advocates and policy makers should carefully consider their costs in association with their short and long term benefits when considering which programs to promote and fund. 

Read the full report here.

KEY FINDINGS

Implementation Findings
• There was substantial variation in placement rates by program. Among On-the-Job Training (OJT) program group members, 42 percent were placed in a subsidized employment position; 80 percent of Paid Work Experience (PWE) participants were placed.
• The PWE and OJT groups also differed in terms of time to placement and duration of placements. Initial placement took longer for the OJT group compared to PWE – averages of 58.5 days and 46.8 days, respectively.
• PWE participants remained in their subsidized jobs for an average of 150 days; OJT participants stayed in their positions for an average of 106 days. Overall, 91 percent of PWE placements and 64 percent of OJT placements continued beyond the second month, the point at which OJT participants were to transition onto the employer’s payroll.
• Members of the control group were almost as likely as those in the program groups to receive some type of welfare-to-work services (other than subsidized employment). The control group was more likely than either of the program groups to be involved in education-related activities.

Impact Findings
• Overall, impacts on participation and service receipt beyond the subsidized job were modest, reflecting the continued services available to the control group through DPSS and other services available in the community.
• In the first year after random assignment, both PWE and OJT group members were more likely to work, worked more quarters on average, and had higher average earnings than control group members; these differences were larger among sample members that had not been employed in the year prior to random assignment and declined as people left subsidized jobs.
• In the year following random assignment, there were few differences in the rate of TANF receipt between the PWE, OJT, and control group members, but PWE and OJT group members had slightly lower total TANF amounts.
• Using data from the in-program survey (around five months after random assignment) when many people were still in subsidized jobs, both PWE and OJT group members were more likely than control group members to report being financially better off than they were one year prior. There were few other statistically significant differences in well-being between PWE, OJT, and control group members during this early follow-up period.
• Around one year after random assignment, there were few statistically significant differences in measures of well-being between program group members and control group members.

• FOC participants face significant obstacles to financial security, including low educational attainment, high unemployment, poor credit histories, and few assets.
• FOCs improved participant’s use of employment and financial services.
• After two years, FOC participants did not have higher incomes that the comparison group.
• FOC participants made strides towards building a healthy credit history, however there was no impact on prime credit scores after two years.
• Improvements in employment and credit were highest among FOC participants who were highly engaged in financial and employment counseling.
• Participant’s net worth was not significantly affected, however debt unrelated to asset accumulation was reduced.

First Steps on the Road to Financial Well-Being

Persistent Nonworkers Among the Long-Term Unemployed

Building Better Programs for Disconnected Youth

Increasing Employment Opportunities for Disadvantaged Young Adults

Career Pathways Explained is brought to you by the Center for Law and Social Policy and the Alliance for Quality Career Pathways, a partner-driven initiative with 10 leading states that successfully developed a framework identifying criteria and indicators to define high-quality career pathway systems and metrics to measure and manage success. This visually engaging, web-based tool explains how the career pathways approach helps individuals with limited skills access education and training that leads to employment in occupations and industries that are in high demand. It also provides concrete examples of success in Alliance states. The tool is designed to explain career pathways to people in the field who appreciate this approach but are not steeped in it.

View the explanation here

The report examines “what works” for adults and for youth.  Within the context of adults, the report examines post-secondary education and industry-recognized credentials, flexible and innovative skill-building training curricula and strategies, work-based training, employer/industry engagement, labor market information and guidance and cross system coordinator and integrated education, training and work supports.  For youth, the report examines career preparation and career education, work experience and summer programs, work and industry-based education, training and career academies, as well as comprehensive and integrated models.  The report wraps up with gaps in evidence and an action plan to fill those gaps.

From report page at the Department of Labor, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Policy:
On January 30, 2014, President Barack Obama directed Vice President Joseph Biden to lead a government-wide review of federal programs in the workforce and training system to ensure they are designed to equip the nation’s workers with skills matching the needs of employers looking to hire. The review culminated in an action plan to make the system more job-driven, integrated, and effective.

To inform the development of the action plan, agencies were asked to summarize the evidence on adult and youth job training strategies and programs to “…determine what information is lacking and identify future research and evaluation that can be undertaken to ensure the Federal programs invest in effective practices.” This document, prepared by the Secretaries of Labor, Commerce, Education and Health and Human Services, with input from several other Federal agencies and staff, presents the results of that evidence summary.

Link to Report: What Works in Job Training – A Synthesis of the Evidence (PDF)

Evidence for WIF Career Pathways-Related Interventions

This paper is divided into three parts:

1. What works to reduce recidivism: risk/need principles that employment professionals can use to improve outcomes for individuals who have been involved in the corrections systems
2. Proven and promising practices for improving outcomes for hard-to-employ individuals, including adults with criminal records
3. The resource allocation and service-matching tool: an integrated approach to improving reentry and employment outcomes for individuals released from prison or jail, or who are beginning community supervision.

Integrated Reentry and Employment Strategies: Reducing Recidivism and Promoting Job Readiness