CEO Library

The report provides the results of an analysis of secondary data to understand how nonmedical use of prescription pain relievers varied across states, industries and occupations, and other worker characteristics.

The brief summarizes lessons learned from using machine learning to study the implementation of career pathways programs. First, this brief describes the research questions that guided the study and summarizes the machine learning methods designed for the data collection and analysis activities, including study limitations and challenges encountered. It then provides lessons learned on using machine learning methods for social science research.

The brief summarizes the input on research priorities gathered from stakeholders and experts by the WIOA Research Portfolio project team between November 2020 and April 2021. The timing of these discussions provides important context for the findings. Many discussions were held during a surge in cases of COVID-19, when social distancing measures were widespread. Other discussions were held after the vaccines were becoming widely available and restrictions were being lifted. The conversations also spanned two different presidential administrations.

The report summarizes 46 impact evaluations that focus on programs that embed elements of the career pathways approach. In the past decade, the career pathways approach to workforce development emerged as a promising strategy to promote long-term earnings advancement and self-sufficiency by helping workers attain in-demand postsecondary credentials (Fein, 2012). The approach involves a combination of rigorous and high-quality education, training, and other services to support participant success (WIOA, 2014).

The report provides the findings of the implementation of a quasi-experimental design to understand how changing labor market conditions associated with the pandemic affect opioid use.

The report of the Career Pathways Descriptive and Analytical Project focuses on “mid-level” occupations—occupations that typically require education or experience beyond a high school diploma or equivalent, but less than a four-year college degree. The report presents study findings on the magnitude of the differences between occupations in the career outcomes that entrants go on to experience within 10 years after entering, which occupations are associated with high wage growth, and what traits of occupations predict higher wage growth.

The literature review aims to examine the roles and activities of navigator programs in workforce development and related fields as well as the outcomes and impacts of such programs. To address these goals, researchers identified and reviewed relevant literature published between 2010 and 2021. They also reviewed the bibliographic references of the identified articles for additional materials.

The report focuses on implementation of key changes to financial and management requirements for the American Job Center (AJC) system in order to seamlessly deliver services to all workforce customers across various partners. Data for this report are drawn primarily from site visit interviews, conducted in early 2019, with administrators, board chairs and members, employer and agency partners, and frontline staff in 14 states and 28 local areas. Other sources of information include administrative data and relevant state and local documents.

Graphic highlighting several Career Pathway program milestones and improvements from the 1980's through the 2020's.

In 2021, the Chief Evaluation Office (CEO) funded contractor Westat Insight and their partner American Institutes for Research to conduct the Explorations in Data Innovations project under the Administrative Data Research and Analysis portfolio of studies. This use case study was designed to explore options around employing machine learning to create and maintain a public-facing, labor-related data catalog.

The report relates to an effort by the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Chief Evaluation Office (CEO), in collaboration with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), to understand how and why employers adopt voluntary consensus standards for occupational health and safety (OHS) management. This report focuses on the institutions, organizations, and processes that have emerged to support the certification of occupational health and safety management systems (OHSMS), both in the U.S. and globally.

The report describes the National Health Emergency (NHE) Demonstration Grants to Address the Opioid Crisis: Implementation Evaluation findings and considers lessons learned and practices that appear potentially promising for future efforts to provide workforce services and system investments to support people directly and indirectly affected by the opioid crisis.

The report describes the characteristics of TechHire and Strengthening Working Families Initiative (SWFI) grant programs participants, participation in services, training enrollment, training completion, credential receipt, and employment. It also examines how outcomes vary by participant characteristics. The data come from the Participant Individual Record Layout (PIRL).

The report focuses on the implementation and short-term impacts of TechHire and Strengthening Working Families Initiative (SWFI) — capturing between 7 and 14 months of follow-up—in the five programs that participated in a randomized control trial. The implementation analysis explored broad research questions about how the programs were implemented and what factors facilitated or inhibited implementation.

The report of an evaluation of strategies used in the TechHire and Strengthening Working Families Initiative (SWFI) grant programs. The evaluation includes implementation, outcomes, and impact studies. The impact study involves a randomized controlled trial of services provided by five grantees to estimate the effects of their programs on outcomes such as skill attainment, employment, and earnings. The focus of this report is the implementation study, which examines how 49 TechHire and SWFI grantees implemented their programs and the perceived effectiveness of the strategies used.

By developing partnerships with behavioral health providers, the workforce system can reduce barriers to accessing employment and training services for people in recovery by providing these services on-site at locations where potential participants already gather and are comfortable. The brief highlights an innovative effort, funded through a National Health Emergency Dislocated Worker Demonstration Grant to Address the Opioid Crisis to the state of Pennsylvania, to provide employment services in opioid treatment clinics.

Community health workers (CHWs) and peer recovery specialists (PRSs) can play an important role in meeting the health care needs of people with opioid use disorder. Registered apprenticeship programs, an “earn while you learn” approach, can help build a certified workforce of CHWs and PRSs by providing classroom and on-the-job training.

The workforce system offers work readiness training through nearly 2,400 American Job Centers (AJCs) nationwide. However, people in recovery can face unique barriers to employment not covered in traditional work readiness curricula. The brief focuses on an innovative effort, funded through a National Health Emergency Dislocated Worker Demonstration Grant to Address the Opioid Crisis to the state of New Hampshire, to adapt work readiness training for people in recovery.

The report is the first of three to present findings from the American Apprenticeship Initiative (AAI) Evaluation implementation study. This initial report primarily uses data from an online survey completed by all grantees, which documented the planning and implementation of grant-supported programs, including characteristics of grantees and their partners, strategies to engage employers, registering apprenticeship programs, identifying and recruiting apprentices, and the major components of apprenticeship programs, including related technical instruction and on-the-job learning.

View Homeless Veterans’ Reintegration Program Evaluation Addendum to this plan published in March 2024.

The report presents findings from the National Agricultural Workers Survey (NAWS), collected from face-to-face interviews with 2,586 crop workers interviewed between October 1, 2016, and September 30, 2018. It is organized into nine chapters, each beginning with a summary of the chapter’s key findings.

This brief documents findings from the Ready to Work (RTW) Partnership Grant Evaluation, describing how the grantees’ programs were implemented over the full term of the grant, the institutional benefits the grantees anticipated would be sustained after the grants ended, and lessons for current workforce programs. Future reports, to be released in 2021 and 2022, will examine the impact of the four programs on participants’ education and employment outcomes. Findings from this implementation study will be important in interpreting those impact results.

The report documents findings from an implementation study, describing how the Ready to Work (RTW) Partnership grantees’ programs were implemented over the full term of the grants, the institutional benefits the grantees anticipated would be sustained after the grants ended, and lessons for current workforce programs. Future reports, to be released in 2021 and 2022, will examine the impact of the four RTW programs on participants’ education and employment outcomes. Findings from this implementation study will be important in interpreting those impact results.

The report describes recent and long-term economic and policy developments with relevance for the public workforce system. This research evidence scan is one of a pair of reports developed as part of DOL’s WIOA Research Portfolio project. The companion report is A Research Evidence Scan of Key Strategies Related to the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) Report  (Deutsch et al. 2021).

Ongoing research and evaluation that produce actionable, widely disseminated evidence are central to the continuous improvement of U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) programs. In addition, the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2014 (WIOA) requires DOL to conduct periodic, independent evaluations to inform the effective operation of WIOA programs and services. To support the development of DOL’s research portfolio, this scan examines existing evidence on key topics related to WIOA programs and services.