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The Adult and Dislocated Worker programs are two of the largest public workforce investment programs in the United States, so it is important to determine the effectiveness of the services they offer. To rigorously assess the impact of these programs on job seekers' employment and earnings, the Employment and Training Administration of the U.S. Department of Labor contracted with Mathematica Policy Research and our partners at Social Policy Research Associates, MDRC, and the Corporation for a Skilled Workforce to conduct a national experimental evaluation. This report provides 30-month impact findings from this evaluation of 28 randomly selected local workforce investment areas.

Published abstract. Show less

First authorized by the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) in 1998, and reauthorized in 2014 by the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), the Adult and Dislocated Worker programs are two of the America's largest publicly funded employment and training programs. To rigorously assess the impact of these programs on job seekers' employment and earnings, the Employment and Training Administration of the US Department of Labor contracted with Mathematica Policy Research and their partners at Social Policy Research Associates, MDRC, and the Corporation for a Skilled Workforce to conduct a national evaluation. This report includes interim impact findings from this evaluation of 28 randomly selected local workforce investment areas from across the US.

The key findings are that: (1) intensive services increased quarterly earnings by about USD600, an increase of 17 per cent, in the fifth quarter after job seekers were enrolled in the study; intensive services also led to job seekers obtaining jobs with more fringe benefits such as health insurance and retirement benefits; (2) as expected, training reduced employment and earnings in the first few quarters after study enrollment as job seekers who were enrolled in training were less likely to have time for employment; by the fifth quarter, 13 to 15 months after study enrollment, these job seekers had yet to see their training result in higher employment rates or earnings; about 15 per cent of all job seekers in the study were still in training in the fifth quarter after study enrollment, therefore it may be too early to see the benefits of training; and (3) together, intensive services and training increased the likelihood of job seekers finding a job, but this did not translate into an increase in earnings within the 15 months after study enrollment.

Edited abstract from publisher's website. Show less

With a growing need for a more skilled workforce, providing effective and efficient employment and training services is an important national priority. Two of the nation's largest publicly funded employment and training programs are the Adult and Dislocated Worker programs authorized under the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA). In 2013, these programs together served about eight million job seekers at a cost of about $2 billion. In July 2014, the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) superseded WIA and reauthorized these programs. Although WIOA made important changes to the public workforce system, the Adult and Dislocated Worker programs will, for the most part, continue to offer a similar set of services to job seekers.

Despite their importance, the WIA Adult and Dislocated Worker programs have not been evaluated using a rigorous random assignment evaluation. In response, in 2008, the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) within the US Department of Labor (DOL) launched a national experimental evaluation of these two programs: the WIA Adult and Dislocated Worker Programs Gold Standard Evaluation (WIA Gold Standard Evaluation). This report describes the implementation of the impact study of the WIA Gold Standard Evaluation. It highlights the important lessons that have been learned from designing and implementing this evaluation that may be informative for researchers conducting other impact evaluations, especially those of other national, ongoing programs.

Edited excerpts from publication. Show less