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Long-term self-sufficiency means more than just a job. Those at the bottom of the labor market, especially young adults with limited education who face high rates of unemployment, need in-demand skills, a clear career path, and solid supports. In recent years, sector-based strategies have yielded promising results for moving low-income jobseekers and workers into living wage positions. This report looks at sector programs and the experience of a network of young adult and sector practitioners, including JobsFirstNYC's Young Adult Sectoral Employment Project (YASEP) initiative, to investigate how to most effectively adapt sector strategies for young adults.

Sectoral initiatives bring together a mix of businesses, community-based organizations, unions, community colleges and others, often led by a workforce development organization, to create training and placement programs for a specific industry or set of employers. Drawing on the lessons from sectoral collaborations, this brief explores how: (1) policymakers and funders can help young people find alternative pathways to jobs, job stability, and job advancement; (2) community-based and young-adult-serving organizations can play a critical role in connecting young people to employment; (3) collaboration across organizations is essential, and financial incentives to support partnerships must be built into future efforts; and (4) sectoral strategies can yield even greater gains when they go beyond strategies focused on job placement to partnering with employers to identify ways to improve workers' conditions while also supporting business success.

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In the United States, the vast majority of released prisoners return to the poorest neighborhoods, where they face enormous obstacles to successfully reestablishing themselves. Half lack a high school diploma and steady work experience. Even those who finished high school may not have the basic reading and math skills to pass employment tests or enter occupational training. Employers are frequently reluctant to hire convicted felons, and in many industries these individuals are barred from obtaining work licenses. In 2008, federal policymakers made the single largest investment to date toward reducing recidivism by passing the Second Chance Act. The legislation creates a dedicated funding stream for 'prisoner reentry' programs that help returnees prepare for employment, connect to affordable housing and access other supports that may ease the transition between incarceration and life on the outside.

This guide provides a summary of guidelines and suggestions for practitioners on employment programs for a range of disadvantaged populations, based on the current body of research. It explores strategies in three major areas: (1) services aimed at helping people find immediate employment; (2) services that provide paid job experiences to participants; and (3) services that help people gain occupational skills. For each area of programming, the guide provides: an overview of the approach, including its history and a brief definition; a high-level summary of the most recent and rigorous research available about the approach; an example of the approach in action; key 'takeaways' for Second Chance Act grantees and other programs serving formerly incarcerated individuals - specifically, why you might pursue each approach and what to keep in mind if you do; and where to go to learn more.

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Public funding for employment and training has dwindled over the past several decades. Yet in communities all over the United States, there has been considerable development of alternative approaches to help low-income people gain skills for particular industry sectors. In 2003, with support from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, [Public/Private Ventures] P/PV launched the Sectoral Employment Impact Study to test the efficacy of one such approach. Using a random-assignment design, P/PV researchers set out to answer the question: can well-implemented, sector-focused training programs make a difference to the earnings of low-income disadvantaged workers and job seekers? Three organizations were selected to participate in the study: Jewish Vocational Service in Boston, Per Scholas in the Bronx and the Wisconsin Regional Training Partnership in Milwaukee. This issue summarizes impacts found for participants across the three sites, including increases in earnings and employment.

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Increasingly, attainment of a postsecondary credential is seen as a prerequisite to holding a good quality job in the rapidly changing economy. However, even as policy makers have placed an increasing focus on training and preparing workers to obtain postsecondary credentials, questions remain about the value of credentials, especially for job seekers and workers who often invest time and money to obtain a credential in the hopes of improving their employment prospects and raising their earnings. Drawing on data from the randomized control trial of the Sectoral Employment Impact Study (SEIS), which included three sector-focused training programs, the authors explore whether individuals who obtain credentials work more and earn more over time than they would without such credentials. The study is the first to estimate the causal impact on earnings from obtaining a credential for low-income job seekers.

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Over the past two decades, an innovative approach to workforce development known as sectoral employment has emerged, resulting in the creation of industry-specific training programs that prepare unemployed and underskilled workers for skilled positions and connect them with employers seeking to fill such vacancies. In 2003 the Sectoral Employment Impact Study [was launched] to rigorously assess whether mature, nonprofit-led sector-focused programs could increase the earnings of disadvantaged workers and job seekers. The study's findings show that program participants earned about $4,500 - 18 per cent - more than the control group over the course of the two-year study period and $4,000 - 29 per cent - more in the second year alone.

Study participants were also more likely to find employment, work more consistently, work in jobs that paid higher wages, and work in jobs that offered benefits. Furthermore, there were earnings gains for each subgroup analyzed, including African Americans, Latinos, immigrants, formerly incarcerated individuals and young adults. [This report] also examines the strategies employed by the three organizations that took part in the study, as well as the common elements that likely contributed to their success.

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