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In 1995, the Annie E. Casey Foundation launched an eight-year Jobs Initiative in six cities (Denver, Milwaukee, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Seattle, and St. Louis) in the USA. Each Jobs Initiative site developed jobs projects to test strategies for improving employment outcomes and labour market retention for young, disadvantaged individuals (18-35 year olds with low educational attainment, low levels of job-related skills, and limited (or no) prior work experience). This report examines barriers, interventions, and employment outcomes across Jobs Initiative sites based on data on the characteristics and subsequent employment experience of the 12,500 participants across the six Jobs Initiative sites. The main focus of the analysis was on the relationship between the various intervention strategies pursued by the sites and the participants' degree of success in achieving (or failing to achieve) a 12-month employment retention milestone. Overall, the analysis aimed to highlight the training and support services that proved to be significant predictors of retention success among Jobs Initiative participants. The analysis revealed that, in order to promote longer-term retention and career advancement, workforce development programs need to provide a full range of training (job readiness, soft skills, and hard skills) and supportive services for their clients. It is also important that the programs identify job openings that will provide employer-provided benefits and opportunities for wage advancement. Also recommended was the inclusion of post-placement supports, including ongoing mentoring, in the workforce development programs. The contents are as follows: Executive summary; Introduction; Challenges faced by disadvantaged job seekers; Defining the 'harder-to-employ' and other participant groups; Jobs Initiative approaches to promoting employment attachment; Importance of training services to placement and retention success; Do jobs projects with an industry or occupational focus achieve better retention outcomes?; 12-month retention rates; Do certain job characteristics increase the likelihood of longer-term job retention?