CEO Library

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 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 purpose of the Older Workers Implementation and Descriptive Study is to build evidence about the implementation of the Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP) and other U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) workforce programs serving older workers to inform the continuous improvement of SCSEP. To inform evaluation activities, the report reviews the literature and identifies the state of the evidence on workforce programs, including those that serve older workers and populations with similar employment barriers.

In 2018, the Chief Evaluation Office (CEO) partnered with the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) to fund contractor The Urban Institute to design and conduct an evaluation that examines critical policy issues, lessons learned, and challenges states faced administering Unemployment Insurance (UI) programs during the Great Recession that began in 2007 and the economic recovery that followed.

The Employment and Training Administration (ETA) funded contractor Abt Associates to develop two evaluation reports for projects funded under the Workforce Innovation Fund (WIF) initiative: The Workforce Innovation Fund (WIF): A Synthesis Report on Evaluation Findings and Experiences and Process Study of the U.S. Department of Labor’s “Pay for Success” Pilots in Two States. The WIF initiative awarded 45 grants, allowing for the implementation of employment-related interventions.

The report identifies the interventions implemented by the 43 Workforce Innovation Fund (WIF) grantees, summarizes findings from the evaluation reports produced between 2015 and 2019, and provides observations regarding the evaluations themselves. Finally, it highlights lessons learned from the experiences with evaluations under WIF and discusses how these lessons might be applied in future initiatives involving grantee-led evaluations.

Appendix to Workforce Innovation Fund (WIF) Evaluations: A Synthesis Report on Findings and Experiences Synthesis Report: Appendix A. Summary Briefs of Workforce Innovation Fund (WIF) Projects, Appendix B. List of All WIF Projects, Appendix C. WIF Background and Context Materials, and Appendix D. Understanding WIF Evaluation Findings.

The report documents the early efforts of Massachusetts and New York as they designed and implemented the Pay for Success (PFS) pilots funded under the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Workforce Innovation Fund (WIF). This report examines the seven-month period grantees had to develop their grant applications after the Solicitation for Grant Awards (SGA) was announced, the four months of planning once awards were made, and the initial approximately 10 months of operation.

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) sponsored a process study of the two Pay for Success (PFS) pilots, conducted by Abt Associates, to document project implementation and provide information on the PFS approach to policymakers and program administrators. This is the process study’s report. An earlier interim report documented the development of the pilots and their initial implementation. This final report updates information about the implementation of the pilots and includes observations based on the entirety of the DOL supported portion, or first phase, of the PFS grants.

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 from a Job Corps pilot focused on enrolling students in college to prepare for a career in healthcare or information technology, conducted February 2017 through June 2019 with 488 students from the Pacific Northwest (ages 16-21) with at least a sixth-grade level of competency in reading and math) enrolled in Job Corps’ Cascades College and Career Academy (CCCA).

The brief is based on lessons from an evaluation: a randomized controlled trial (RCT) of a small subset of the 53 TechHire and Strengthening Working Families Initiative (SWFI) programs—three TechHire programs and two SWFI programs—that explored the implementation and short-term impacts of TechHire and SWFI. In particular, this brief focuses on findings from the implementation analysis that was part of the RCT; data sources for the implementation analysis included observations of TechHire and SWFI programs, interviews with staff members, and a review of program participation data.

The brief describes the challenges associated with helping low-income parents with children under the age of 13 pursuing training and employment to access affordable child care. It also proposes solutions that programs may undertake to increase their effectiveness in assisting parents with accessing and paying for appropriate child care. Further, it identifies barriers that remain to be addressed at the systems level.

Technical appendix to the Evaluation of the Cascades Job Corps College and Career Academy (CCCA) Final Report: Appendix A: Theoretical Roots of the Cascades Job Corps Model, Appendix B: Cascades Pilot Evaluation Data Sources, Appendix C: Survey Methods for the 18-Month Follow-Up Survey, Appendix D: Additional Technical Information on Methodology, Appendix E: Definitions of Outcomes, Appendix F: Definitions of Baseline Measures, Appendix G.

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 2021, the Chief Evaluation Office (CEO) partnered with the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) to fund contractor Manhattan Strategy Group to conduct the Navigators in Social Service Delivery Settings: A Review of the Literature with Relevance to Workforce Development Programs under the Evaluation Technical Support portfolio of studies.

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.

In 2020, the Chief Evaluation Office (CEO) funded contractors Mathematica and the University of Connecticut Health Center to conduct a study of factors associated with opioid use among U.S. workers.

The first report from this study, Factors Contributing to Variation in Nonmedical Use of Prescription Pain Relievers Among U.S. Workers: 2004-2014, analyzed secondary data to understand how nonmedical use of prescription pain relievers varied across states, industries and occupations, and other worker characteristics.

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).

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

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 datasets compiled for the Career Trajectories and Occupational Transitions (CTOT) Study can be used to inform career pathways and other employment and training programs by (1) identifying launchpad occupations associated with higher than average wage growth, (2) identifying occupational and worker characteristics associated with wage growth, and (3) identifying specific occupational steps associated with wage growth.