CEO Library

The recession that began in late 2007 posed major challenges for the U.S. labor market, including a high unemployment rate and a steep increase in unemployment durations. The federal policy response to the recession and the lingering weak labor market included substantial changes to the unemployment compensation (UC) system, which is administered as a partnership between states and the federal government. Twelve pieces of federal legislation affected the UC system from June 2008 to January 2013, the most comprehensive of which was the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA).

Stagnant wages, growing inequality, and the deterioration of job quality are among the most important challenges facing the U.S. economy today. Although domestic outsourcing – firms’ use of contractors, franchises, and independent contractors – is a potentially important mechanism through which companies reduce compensation and shift economic risk to workers, surprisingly little is known about the extent of this practice and its implications for wages and working conditions.

The structure and organization of work are continually changing. Changes may be cyclical, reflecting economic and social conditions, including business cycles and labor market structures. Other changes, often resulting from new technologies, may be unidirectional. Whether or not the changes are temporary or permanent, employment arrangements affect worker exposures to workplace hazards and their ability to address them.

The literature review reviews what is known about sector-based training strategies to date, and why they have become so popular with policymakers. It also reviews several major challenges to expanding them while trying to maintain their quality. These challenges include the fact that only workers with strong basic skills and employability are likely to benefit from these strategies; the likely tradeoffs between short- and long-term impacts and between general and more specific training; the difficulties of replicating and scaling the best models; and uncertain future labor demand.

The employer-based system of providing retirement and health benefits is failing too many Americans, including disproportionate numbers of the poorer and more vulnerable members of society. The largely incremental changes made over the last 30 years have not solved the basic problems of access, coverage and adequacy. Accordingly, the researcher who developed the literature review suggests that it is time for a more radical approach. One approach would be to redefine the terms “employer” and “employee” to capture the realities of the 21st century workplace.

The report profiles the demographic and employment characteristics of women veterans and compares these characteristics to those of male veterans, women non-veterans, and male non-veterans.

In 2016, the Chief Evaluation Office (CEO) partnered with the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) to fund contractors Abt Associates in partnership with MEF Associates to conduct the Ready to Work (RTW) Partnership Grant Evaluation program. It includes an implementation study to understand how the programs were designed and implemented and an impact study to measure the effectiveness of these programs in improving participants' short and long-term outcomes.

In 2016, the Chief Evaluation Office (CEO) partnered with the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) to fund contractors Westat and MDRC to conduct an implementation study and randomized controlled trial (RCT) impact study of the H-1B-funded TechHire Partnership Grants (TechHire) and the Strengthening Working Families Initiative (SWFI). The Department of Labor awarded funds for both of these programs in September 2016.

In 2013, the Department of Labor (DOL) Chief Evaluation Office (CEO) partnered with the Employment and Training Administration’s Office of Apprenticeship (OA) and funded L&M Policy Research to publish the United Services Military Apprenticeship Program (USMAP) Implementation Study and Feasibility of an Impact Study. This report examines USMAP program operations and the extent to which participants perceive the provided training and assistance supporting greater career success.

The report presents the findings of the United Services Military Apprenticeship Program (USMAP) Implementation Study and Feasibility of an Impact Study as conducted by L&M Policy Research and the Urban Institute. In undertaking the analysis, the L&M-Urban team interviewed key staff members involved with USMAP operations. In addition, the team conducted 11 focus groups at two Navy and two Marine Corps bases with USMAP apprentices, USMAP completers, and USMAP supervisors.

The report provides quasi-experimental evidence on the impact of paid leave legislation on fathers’ leavetaking, as well as on the division of leave between mothers and fathers in dual-earner households. Using difference-in-difference and difference-in-difference-in-difference designs, researchers study California’s Paid Family Leave (CA-PFL) program, which is the first source of government-provided paid parental leave available to fathers in the United States.

As thousands of military veterans return from Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom and seek to enter the civilian labor market, providing effective employment and training services to veterans is becoming increasingly important.

The report of a study first to examine the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA’s) Federal Agency Targeting (FEDTARG) inspection program. Under the FEDTARG program, OSHA targets Federal worksites that have high lost time case (LTC) counts. The goal of the program is to reduce hazards, injuries and illnesses, and the costs associated with injuries and illnesses in Federal worksites.

The report describes the use of administrative data to describe the characteristics, services received, and short-term labor market outcomes of adult Hispanic, Asian, Pacific Islander, Indian and Native American, and migrant and seasonal farmworker customers leaving four workforce investment programs in 2011.

Typically, unemployed workers who have met their state’s eligibility criteria for benefits can receive up to 26 weeks of unemployment benefits, which are intended to provide a financial cushion while the workers adapt to the loss of a job and household income. These state-funded benefits, often referred to as regular Unemployment Insurance (UI), are available regardless of the strength of the economy.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) runs a voluntary program that provides free and confidential advice to small and medium-sized establishments on approaches to avoiding workplace injuries and illnesses. This effort, known as the On-site Consultation Program (OSC), operates in addition to—but totally separate from—OSHA’s enforcement activities. Nationwide, OSC performs approximately 27,000 consultation visits per year at establishments that collectively employ more than 1.25 million workers.

For many Americans, the recession that began in 2007 led not only to job loss, but also to losing health insurance for themselves and their families. Three-quarters of nonelderly Americans who have health insurance receive coverage through an employer. In most cases, the employer pays for a relatively large portion of the cost of the coverage. Given the predominance of health insurance that is sponsored and subsidized by employers, the loss of a job is often accompanied by the loss of health care coverage.

The Chief Evaluation Office (CEO) works with other Department of Labor (DOL) agencies to conduct Administrative Data Research and Analysis (ADRA) studies. The various studies aim to examine administrative data sets from agencies within DOL and other federal agencies to provide timely responses to changing strategic agency priorities. Completed studies are listed below. New and ongoing studies will occur regularly.

In 2015, the Chief Evaluation Office (CEO) partnered with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and funded Summit Consulting LLC to conduct the Federal Agency Targeting Inspection (FEDTARG) Program Study under the Administrative Data Research and Analysis portfolio of studies. The outcome evaluation aims to better understand activities, outputs, and outcomes of the FEDTARG program from fiscal year (FY) 2008 through FY 2013.

The report summarizes the results of Eastern Research Group, Inc. (ERG)’s project to estimate the social and economic effects of minimum wage violations in California and New York. This project represented an exploratory effort to determine the appropriate approach and data to use to estimate the impacts of state and federal minimum wage and overtime pay violations; however, data limitations related to overtime pay violations required a focus only on minimum wage violations.

Abstract of the Social and Economic Effects of Wage Violations: Estimates for California and New York Final Report.

The report provides an overview of the Site Specific Targeting Program (SST11) and a random assignment evaluation design implemented by Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to assess the short-term impacts of the program.

Family leave provides an employee with a period of time off work to care for a newborn or a sick child, spouse, or parent. The 1993 Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) requires that employers provide 12 weeks of family leave to qualifying workers with a newborn or a sick child, spouse, or parent, but that leave is unpaid.

The minimum wage is one of the most researched areas in labor economics with a vast body of literature that dates back nearly seventy years (Brown 1999). Research proliferated as variation in state minimum wage policies gained steam over the last several decades. However, research, debate and policy has largely ignored the lesser known subminimum wage received by tipped workers (also referred to as the tipped or cash wage). That there are two federal wage floors is unknown to many and the existence of the federal subminimum wage—at $2.13 since 1991—often comes as a bit of a surprise.

In 2014, the Chief Evaluation Office (CEO) contracted with Mathematica Policy Research and ideas42 to explore the potential of using insights from behavioral science to improve the performance and outcomes of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) programs under the Advancing Behavioral Interventions in Labor Programs portfolio of studies.