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The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) conducted a rigorous impact evaluation of the Job Corps program in the 1990s. The original National Job Corps Study was a large scale random assignment evaluation to examine program impacts on participants’ employment related outcomes. The design involved the random assignment of all eligible applicants nationwide between 1994 and early 1996 to a program or control group. The study participants are now between the ages of 38 and 46.

The study obtained nationally representative impact estimates by comparing the outcomes of program and control group members over time, using survey data covering the four years after random assignment and earnings records from tax data through 2001. DOL subsequently contracted with Mathematica to examine longer-term earnings impacts using tax data through 2004, roughly nine years after random assignment.

The report describes findings from a follow-up study to examine employment-related impacts using tax records through 2015, about 20 years after random assignment and 11 years since the previous collection of tax data.

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Research Questions

• Twenty years after random assignment, what were the impacts of Job Corps on participants’ annual employment and earnings overall and by age group?
• What were impacts on types of employment (hourly wage and salaried employment, contractor employment, and self-employment); the receipt of Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits; and spouse employment? Did the program have an effect on tax filings, liabilities, and balances due?

Key Takeaways

• In general, the 20-year results mimic the results from the original nine-year National Job Corps Study.
• Program participants in the older age group (20–24 years old) continued to experience greater employment and lower SSDI filings than the older control group 20 years after random assignment.
• On average, program participants in the older age group (20–24 years old) earned more than the members of the older control group.
• Participants in the older age group (20–24 years old) experienced employment gains of about 4.2 percentage points between 2013 and 2015 as compared to the older control group.
• Program participants in the younger age group (16–19 years old) did not experience a long-term impact on employment or earnings relative to the younger control group between ten and 20 years after random assignment.

Citation

Schochet, P. (2018). Mathematica. National Job Corps Study: 20-Year Follow-Up Study Using Tax Data: Final Report. Chief Evaluation Office, U.S. Department of Labor.

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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.