Reemployment and Eligibility Assessment (REA) Program Evaluation
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DOL Partner Agency
U.S. Regions
U.S. States
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About the Study
In 2013, the Chief Evaluation Office (CEO) partnered with the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) to fund contractor Abt Associates to conduct the Evaluation of the Reemployment and Eligibility Assessment (REA) Program. The implementation and impact evaluations aim to describe the implementation and estimate the impact of REA programs in Indiana, New York, Washington, and Wisconsin on outcomes of interest: amount and duration of unemployment insurance (UI) benefits, employment, and earnings. For the implementation study, researchers examined program documents, state information management systems, and conducted on-site fieldwork, including site visits, focus groups with program staff, and observation of REA orientation and counseling sessions. For the impact study, researchers implemented a multi-arm randomized study design in which nearly 300,000 UI claimants were assigned to a control group or one of three treatment groups. Participants in the three treatment groups received different levels of enforcement and assistance. Researchers relied on administrative data from the four study states and the federal Office of Child Support Enforcement’s National Directory of New Hires (NDNH).
From 2005―2016, the Department of Labor (DOL) awarded states grants to operate REA programs designed to support the reemployment of individuals on UI and detect improper payments. REA programs provided job search assistance, compliance enforcement to check eligibility status, and an in-person mandatory REA meeting to review eligibility. In FY2015, DOL introduced the Reemployment Services and Eligibility Assessment (RESEA) grant program. RESEA was designed to replace REA, and its structure incorporates many elements of the REA program. The four states participating in the study continued to deliver the REA program and then transitioned to RESEA once their random assignment was complete (approximately April 2016).
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 and unemployment insurance programs and policies and addresses Departmental strategic goals and priorities.
Implementation Report Research Questions
- How did states implement REA?
- What were levels of compliance with program requirements?
- How did states respond to noncompliance?
Impact Report Research Questions
- What was the overall impact of the REA program—on UI duration, employment, and earnings?
- How did that impact vary with claimant characteristics?
- What was the role of the different components of the program in achieving those impacts? In particular, what was the relative role of:
- assistance (as reflected in “Reemployment” in the program name),
- enforcement of ongoing eligibility requirements (as reflected in “Eligibility Assessment” in the program name), and
- the procedural requirement to attend the in-person REA meeting (which was mandatory, per DOL guidance), where any assistance and enforcement were delivered.
- Evaluation of Impacts of the Reemployment and Eligibility (REA) Program (Impact Report, February 2020)
- Evaluation of Impacts of the Reemployment and Eligibility (REA) Program (Impact Report Appendices, February 2020)
- Findings Summary (Impact Study Brief, February 2020)
- Methodological Insights (Impact Study Brief, February 2020)
- REA Impact Study: Implementation Report (Implementation Report, January 2017)
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.