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The report synthesizes findings from third-party evaluator (TPE)-conducted implementation evaluations and subsequent interim reports, supplemented by submitted quarterly narrative reports (QNRs) from March 2023. The synthesis aims to provide an overarching description of the first round of SCC (SCC1) grantees’ progress in implementing their workforce development and career pathways programming and highlight promising practices, implementation barriers, and lessons learned across the grantees.

In 2023, the Chief Evaluation Office (CEO) partnered with the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) to fund contractor Abt Global (Abt) and its subcontractors, MDRC, Social Policy Research Associates (SPR), and Trewon Technologies, to conduct the Sectoral Strategies and Employer Engagement Portfolio Services Project (SSEEP).

The report provides analysis of intermediate impacts on participation in and completion of TechHire and Strengthening Working Families Initiative (SWFI) programs training, receipt of credentials, and use of child care and other services, as well as on longer-term outcomes such as employment and earnings, advancement and job quality, and other, exploratory outcomes such as overall well-being, health, and housing status at about 2 years following random assignment. 

The report presents results from the America’s Promise outcomes and impact analysis and draws on findings from the previously completed implementation study to provide context for the presented results (English et al. 2022a). Chapter 1 provides detailed information on the background for the evaluation and the guiding research questions for the outcomes and impact studies.

The America’s Promise job-driven grants were designed to develop and expand regional partnerships to provide sectoral training programs that address the immediate needs of the regional labor market. The U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Chief Evaluation Office contracted with Mathematica and its partner, Social Policy Research Associates, to conduct an evaluation of the America’s Promise grants including an implementation study and an impact study.

The brief is part of the State Apprenticeship Systems Capacity Assessment Study funded by the U.S. Department of Labor, which is aimed at understanding how state apprenticeship systems operate to achieve goals. This brief discusses how states use incentives to promote and expand apprenticeship, the benefits of incentives, and the challenges in the administration and implementation of incentives.

The brief is part of the State Apprenticeship Systems Capacity Assessment Study funded by the U.S. Department of Labor, which is aimed at understanding how state apprenticeship systems operate to achieve goals.

In 2016, the Employment and Training Administration, in partnership with the Chief Evaluation Office, awarded a contract to Abt Associates, with the Urban Institute, MEF Associates, W.E. Upjohn Institute, Capital Research Corporation, George Washington University, and McBassi & Company to evaluate the American Apprenticeship Initiative (AAI) training programs across all 46 grantees, mostly community colleges. 

The AAI programs seek to: 

The report presents results from the American Apprenticeship Initiative (AAI) grant employer return-on-investment (ROI) sub-study. The primary data source is an Employer Survey administered to 68 employers that hired apprentices supported by an AAI grant. Each employer was asked to describe one of their apprenticeship programs in detail; all together, these programs represented 2,854 apprentices. The survey was deployed between March 2020 and October 2020, towards the end of the 5-year AAI grant period.

The report presents findings from the outcomes study of the American Apprenticeship Initiative (AAI) evaluation. It examines the characteristics, reasons for enrollment, program experiences, and postprogram outcomes of AAI apprentices and pre-apprentices. The data sources include an AAI Apprentice Survey administered to a sample of approximately 2,600 registered apprentices, program records from grantees, and administrative earnings data from the National Directory of New Hires.

The report presents findings from the American Apprenticeship Initiative (AAI) demonstration study that examined the impact of employer engagement efforts on employers’ take-up of registered apprenticeship. The primary data source is data collected by the two grantees (MassHire and Philadelphia Works) in the demonstration on their efforts to research, contact, and subsequently develop apprenticeship programs with employers.

The brief is part of the the American Apprenticeship Initiative (AAI) evaluation, and is based on site visits and follow up clarification calls to 6 AAI grantees that constituted 7 State or local workforce development boards. The evaluation team talked primarily with staff in management and leadership positions, although some agencies invited direct-service staff, such as career counselors and business services staff, to join the conversation.

The brief examines the recruitment, program experiences, and post-program employment and earnings outcomes of American Apprenticeship Initiative (AAI) apprentices from underrepresented populations—defined as women and people of color (Black, Hispanic, and Other Races, specifically Asian, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, Native American, or multiple races)—relative to all AAI apprentices and historically represented populations—defined as White men. The brief combines data from a number of sources, including U.S.

The brief discusses the number and value of indirect benefits of American Apprenticeship Initiative (AAI) registered apprenticeship programs to participating employers. Supporters of apprenticeship, including state and local workforce agencies, can use these findings from the AAI evaluation to promote adoption of apprenticeship by employers. Direct benefits estimates were based on employers’ reports of a reference apprentice’s increased productivity. Indirect benefits were employers’ reported values relative to the value of the reference apprentice’s increased productivity.

The brief examines the earnings growth of American Apprenticeship Initiative (AAI) apprentices compared to the earnings growth for comparable workers during the same period. Researchers limited the sample to apprentices who started their program by 2018 and had a valid Social Security Number so that they could match their earnings records and follow them for 2.5 years after registration. They define comparable workers as workers with earnings records in the U.S.

The brief discusses costs to the American Apprenticeship Initiative (AAI) grantees of supporting employers and sponsors in their efforts to create apprenticeships. The brief also explores how grantees progressed in setting up apprenticeship programs and how costs varied over time. Practitioners and policymakers, including state and local workforce agencies, can use these findings to plan future public investments in apprenticeship expansion through intermediary organizations like the AAI grantees or direct subsidies to employers. The AAI grantees began operations in October 2015.

The report presents findings on American Apprenticeship Initiative (AAI) grantee program operations from fall 2017 (approximately two years into the grant when data were first available) through summer 2021, when most grantees had concluded their grant activities and others were close to finishing. The report documents the degree to which grantees collectively met their apprenticeship program registration targets, their apprentice registration targets, and their pre-apprentice program implementation and enrollment targets. It also describes variation on these among grantees.

The report presents American Apprenticeship Initiative (AAI) implementation study findings. The primary data source is interviews conducted during in-person site visits to 10 AAI grantees in spring 2019 and follow-up telephone calls with grant staff in fall 2020. The report documents the design and operation of grant activities and identifies potentially promising practices, implementation challenges, and lessons for future initiatives.

In 2022, the Chief Evaluation Office (CEO) partnered with the Wage and Hour Division to fund contractor Westat to conduct the National Worker Survey project. This survey is intended to gather data to understand the prevalence and nature of violations of workers’ rights under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), with a focus on wages, pay, and hours worked, as well as other topics.

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.

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.

Healthcare workers are well known to be at high risk of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) from patient handling. In 2011, California passed the Hospital Patient and Health Care Worker Injury Protection Act (AB 1136) that requires acute care hospitals to implement safe patient handling policies and programs to prevent patient handling injuries (PHIs). In 2014, the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) established regulations to implement the safe patient handling law.

In 2020, Chief Evaluation Office (CEO) partnered with the Office of Apprenticeship (OA) and the Office of Policy Development and Research (OPDR) within the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) and funded contractors Urban Institute and Mathematica to conduct the State Apprenticeship Capacity Assessment under the Apprenticeship Evidence-Building Portfolio of studies.

In 2017, the DOL’s Chief Evaluation Office (CEO), in collaboration with the Employment and Training Administration (ETA), funded contractor Mathematica to conduct an implementation and impact evaluation of the America’s Promise grant program. The implementation study examines how the 23 grantee organizations implemented their programs between 2016 and 2020.