CEO Library

Appendices to the Self-Employment Training (SET) Pilot Program Evaluation Final Impact Report that include design and implementation of the set pilot program, impact study methodology, descriptive tables of study enrollee characteristics and site-level implementation measures, tables of results from main the impact analysis, and tables of results from sensitivity analyses for primary impact measures.

The Self-Employment Training (SET) pilot program served unemployed and underemployed workers who proposed businesses in their fields of expertise. Participants had access to 12 months of case management services, customized training and technical assistance, and seed capital microgrants of up to $1,000. In two sites, SET participants who received unemployment insurance (UI) benefits could also get waivers exempting them from work search requirements.

To make good decisions about investing in themselves—in the form of additional education or training—American workers need pertinent, reliable information on how the skills developed in a particular program translate into job opportunities and earnings potential. To provide this kind of information to the public, some states have created websites (termed scorecards) that allow users to browse education and training opportunities. These sites may provide information about the organizations offering education and training programs, program cost, and other information.

As of January 2017, 1.9 million people remained in the ranks of the long-term unemployed (Bureau of Labor Statistics 2017). Starting a business, or self-employment, may offer a path for some of these people to return to work. The Self-Employment Training (SET) pilot program, which operated from 2013–2017, was funded by the Employment Training Administration (ETA) at the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) to test and evaluate strategies to support dislocated workers who wanted to start their own businesses.

In an effort to spur regional economic growth, five Federal agencies collaborated to award grants in 2011 and 2012 to 30 self-identified regional innovation clusters focused on specific high-growth sectors through the Jobs and Innovation Accelerator Challenge (JIAC) and Advanced Manufacturing JIAC (AM-JIAC) initiatives. Participating agencies included the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (ETA); U.S.

The Self-Employment Training (SET) pilot program served unemployed and underemployed workers who proposed businesses in their fields of expertise. Participants had access to 12 months of case management services, customized training and technical assistance, and seed capital microgrants of up to $1,000. In two sites, SET participants who received unemployment insurance (UI) benefits could also get waivers exempting them from work search requirements.

Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration (DOL/ETA), the Young Parents Demonstration (YPD) was a federal grant initiative to enhance the Department’s existing programs to better serve at-risk and disadvantaged young parents and expectant parents, ages 16 to 24. Through two grant competitions, DOL/ETA issued three rounds of awards to 17 organizations, including both local public workforce agencies and non-profit community-based organizations.

Researchers investigated how less-educated and less-experienced workers in Ohio benefit from registered apprenticeships. The researchers focused on 18-24 year old males. Regression results show that compared to individuals who have similar pre-program educational backgrounds but have little or no job training, apprentices have significantly higher earnings six years after program entry. The wage premiums for apprentices persist for at least nine years after program entry.

With a growing need for a more skilled workforce, providing effective and efficient employment and training services is an important national priority. First authorized under the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA) and then reauthorized in 2014 under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), the Adult and Dislocated Worker programs are two of the nation’s largest publicly funded programs providing employment and training services.

Technical Supplement to the Providing Public Workforce Services to Job Seekers: 30-Month Impact Findings on the WIA Adult and Dislocated Worker Programs Final Report that provides details of the study’s methodological approach, sensitivity analysis of impact estimates, detailed tables of survey means and impacts for all customers, detailed tables of survey means and impacts for adults, detailed tables of survey means and impacts for dislo

The brief describes how 40 comprehensive American Job Centers (AJCs) selected to participate in the Institutional Analysis of AJCs shared resources. It opens by reviewing resource sharing requirements under Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA) and Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), and then outlines the extent to which the study AJCs shared resources at the time of the study's data collection.

The brief presents an overview of key institutional features of the AJC service delivery system across the country that shape day-to-day operations and customer experiences. To do this, researchers identify common patterns and variations in (1) administrative One-Stop Operator structure and AJC management, (2) AJC partner programs and staffing, (3) funding and resource sharing, (4) data systems and sharing, and (5) AJC services.

The brief discusses key features and experiences of 12 America Job Centers (AJCs) in the America Job Centers Institutional Analysis study that were located in rural areas. It focuses on AJCs as the unit of service delivery, which is a narrower focus than prior studies of the rural workforce system as a whole. Therefore, the findings offer insight into frontline service delivery and system-wide planning in addition to an update on the persistence of previously-identified challenges in rural service delivery.

The brief describes the role and activities of One-Stop Operators in 40 comprehensive American Job Centers (AJCs). It provides an overview of the types of entities that served as Operators, the roles that Operators played, common supervision models, and the key activities of AJC managers in day-to-day center operations. It concludes with a description of Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) One-Stop Operator requirements and identifies some general concerns raised about these changes as local areas prepared for their implementation.

The Enhanced Transitional Jobs Demonstration (ETJD), funded by the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), tested seven transitional jobs programs that targeted people recently released from prison or low-income parents who had fallen behind in child support payments. The ETJD programs were “enhanced” in various ways relative to programs studied in the past. MDRC, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization, led the project along with two partners: Abt Associates and MEF Associates.

To systematically document key characteristics and features of American Job Centers (AJCs), Mathematica and its partners—Social Policy Research Associates, The George Washington University, and Capital Research Corporation—conducted the America Job Centers’ Institutional Analysis for the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL).

To help individuals successfully reenter society after time in jail, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) awarded $10 million in grants to 20 local workforce development boards (LWDBs) in June 2015 for the Linking to Employment Activities Pre-Release (LEAP) initiative. Central to the LEAP initiative was creating jail-based American Job Centers (AJCs) with direct linkages to community-based AJCs. A complex array of factors including jail and local community characteristics influenced the development and operations of jail-based AJCs as well as the experiences and outcomes of participants.

Executive summary of the Developing American Job Centers in Jails: Implementation of the Linking to Employment Activities Pre-Release (LEAP) Grants Final Report.

The compendium presents a summary of findings from the planning and implementation phases of the Linking to Employment Activities Pre-Release (LEAP) pilots, and includes 10 issue briefs organized around key themes that emerged during the evaluation of LEAP.

The brief discusses how jail-based American Job Center (AJC) staff assessed inmates’ needs and goals, prepared employment and service plans, and delivered services to address participants’ barriers before their transition to the community and the workforce.

The brief describes Linking to Employment Activities Pre-Release (LEAP) participants’ experiences, their impressions of the staff they encountered, and their suggestions for improvement, based on data from 18 pre-release and 9 post-release focus groups. Of the 3,110 LEAP participants enrolled as of June 2017, 104 attended the focus groups.

Reentering the community is a challenging transition for justice-involved individuals who often face numerous barriers in restarting their lives outside of jail. It is similarly challenging for service providers who aid them during this transition—recently released individuals become difficult to contact once outside, are spread over a larger geographic area, and face competing demands on their time.

The Linking to Employment Activities Pre-release (LEAP) grants sought to create a stronger linkage between pre- and post-release employment services for justice-involved individuals. Case management—coordinating services for and working directly with clients—is an important aspect of that linkage. In the LEAP sites, interactions with case managers played a role in shaping participants’ experiences with employment services in the jail, and their engagement.

The state-Federal system of Unemployment Insurance (UI) programs has existed for 80 years. The programs in the states are financed by employer payroll taxes paid into state trust fund accounts maintained at the U.S. Treasury. These accounts are the source for benefit payments made to eligible unemployed workers.