Self-Employment Training (SET) Pilot Program Evaluation Final Implementation Report

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Release Date: July 01, 2019

Self-Employment Training (SET) Pilot Program Evaluation Final Implementation Report

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About the Report

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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. Unemployed and underemployed workers who proposed businesses in their fields of expertise were eligible to participate. Mathematica Policy Research implemented and conducted an evaluation of the SET program. Based on data collected during the implementation period, the brief presents what researchers have learned so far about program implementation.

Research Questions

  • Did the Self-Employment Training pilot program work?
  • Who did the pilot program work for best, and where did it work the best?
  • How did the program operate in practice?
  • What did it take to attract and serve SET participants?

Key Takeaways

  • The SET study sample represented several populations of particular interest to DOL.
  • The SET program attracted 7,027 individuals who completed the online orientation between July 2013 and January 2016.
  • The case management model was implemented with medium fidelity to the program model.
  • The majority of participants received intensive and tailored services.
  • Roughly one-third of the participants received microgrants to provide seed capital for their business.
  • In the course of implementing the pilot and its evaluation, researchers learned lessons that are relevant not just for other pilot programs, but for any funder, practitioner, or researcher seeking to introduce or test new service offerings for unemployed and underemployed workers.

Citation

Amin, S., Anderson, M.A., Jones, C., Joyce, K., Nicolai, N., Manley, M., Perez-Johnson, I. (2017). Mathematica. Creating Jobs When You Can’t Find Any: Lessons from a Self-Employment Pilot Program for the Unemployed. Chief Evaluation Office, U.S. Department of Labor.

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This study was sponsored by the Employment and Training Administration, Office of Policy Development and Research, Division of Research and Evaluation, and was produced outside of CEO’s standard research development process.