This report addresses the best methodologies to use to examine varied policy questions surrounding employment and training programs, based on the independent assessment of an expert evaluator of labor market policies and interventions.  The report considers the best ways to measure national, state, and local programs’ impacts on various client populations and the economy as a whole—and to judge their cost-effectiveness as taxpayer investments when both client and broader social benefits are considered.  Though it pertains to programs and decision-makers at all levels of government, the discussion adopts the terminology of and emphasizes recommendations for the national viewpoint.

Three main messages stand out:

·        Information on policies and programs taken from research and evaluation must be rigorous and thorough;

·        Different methods work best to gather information of this sort in different policy and program settings; and

·        All the research techniques involved pose large technical challenges and utilize substantial amounts of data, necessitating a major, sustained commitment of resources by the government to be successful in improving the nation’s workforce investment system.