About the Study

In 2014, the Chief Evaluation Office (CEO) partnered with the Employment and Training Administration and funded contractor MDRC to conduct An Introduction to the World of Work: A Study of the Implementation and Impacts of New York City’s Summer Youth Employment Program. The study aims to examine both the implementation of New York City’s Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP) and its effects on participants’ education, employment, and earnings outcomes. To examine program implementation, researchers conducted focus groups, fielded surveys, and held interviews with program administrators, employees, participants, and applicants. The impact evaluation used an experimental design based on SYEP’s randomized lottery application system to analyze the program’s effects on individuals who participated between 2006 and 2010. Researchers compared earnings and employment data for participants and nonparticipants after one year, five years, and nine years. The last two analyses also compared participants’ and nonparticipants’ educational achievement.

SYEP is the nation’s largest summer youth job program and has been in serving youth ages 14 to 24 since 1963. Each year between 2004 and 2015, New York City’s SYEP placed between 25,000 and 50,000 youth in minimum-wage, entry-level summer jobs with New York City employers. SYEP also offers educational workshops in work readiness, financial literacy, career exploration, postsecondary education, and personal health.

This Department of Labor-funded study was a result of the annual process to determine the Department’s research priorities for the upcoming year. It contributes to the labor evidence-base to inform employment and training programs and policies and addresses Departmental strategic goals and priorities.

The Department of Labor’s (DOL) Chief Evaluation Office (CEO) sponsors independent evaluations and research, primarily conducted by external, third-party contractors in accordance with the Department of Labor Evaluation Policy and CEO’s research development process.