In 2018, amendments to Section 306(c) of the Social Security Act (SSA) permanently authorized the Reemployment Services and Eligibility Assessments (RESEA) program and introduced substantive changes, including formula-based funding to states and a series of requirements intended to increase the use and availability of evidence-based reemployment interventions and strategies. The Department of Labor (DOL) provides funding to states to operate the RESEA program, which aims to help Unemployment Insurance (UI) claimants return to work quickly and meet eligibility requirements.

The evaluation of the RESEA program includes four major components: 1) an implementation report; 2) a brief on serving UI claimants during the COVID-19 pandemic; 3) a brief report and collection of evidence briefs about RESEA program components, including selecting claimants and meeting attendance, basic career services, and individualized services; and 4) an options report for building evidence on RESEA programs. This evidence-building options report serves as a resource for decision makers to understand and weigh options for developing evidence of various types. Options related to four research questions (RQs) are presented in this report:

RQ1. Whole Programs: What is the impact of being selected for RESEA-relative to not being selected for RESEA?
RQ2. Subgroups: How does the impact of RESEA vary with the characteristics of the claimant at initial claim?
RQ3. Components: How does the impact of an RESEA program vary with service or component details?
RQ4. What Works Best for Whom: How does the impact of changing a component vary with the characteristics of the claimant at initial claim?

The report discusses both short- and long-term evaluation options, describes potential challenges, and discusses implications for both states conducting evaluations and DOL. A wide range of short-term evaluation options are presented to show how states could demonstrate whether their own RESEA program or a generic RESEA program is evidence-based. These options include random assignment estimates on RESEA-eligible claimants for whole program or program component evaluations. The range of longer-term evaluation options presented for either states or DOL to pursue include studies to identify changes that would improve the impact of the whole programs or program components on claimants’ outcomes. For both states and DOL, the highest short-term priority is to generate sufficient evidence to satisfy the statutory requirement related to the effectiveness of RESEA programs.