Original source
Sectoral Employment Programs as a Path to Quality Jobs: Lessons from Randomized Evaluations (2022)
secondary evidence review · J-PAL Evidence Review
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Career Readiness and Professional Soft Skills Instruction
"Sectoral employment programs also include training in non-technical skills in the area of career readiness. These include instruction and training in abilities like time management, study skills, critical thinking, and conflict resolution."
Macroeconomic Productivity-Compensation Decoupling
"From 1979 to 2018, the top 0.1 percent has seen its earnings grow fifteen times faster than the bottom ninety percent, which has only seen consistent wage growth in ten of the past forty years."
Financial Stipends and Wraparound Necessity Support
"Programs may provide participants with financial support to make participation in these programs viable. This can take the form of weekly cash stipends or support in paying for necessities such as books, transportation, childcare, and food."
Employer Intermediary Demand Alignment
"The focus on sectors with current and expected strong labor demand and close staff involvement with employers minimizes the risk of misalignment with the labor market that is thought to be an issue with some publicly funded training programs."
Post-Employment Retention and Wraparound Supports
"Through retention services that occur after the program has been completed, program staff continue to communicate and connect with previous participants. This outreach may better allow participants to overcome problems of supervisor implicit bias and discrimination against minority and non-traditional employees in the workplace."
Project QUEST Long-Term Support Model
"Its impacts on earnings in the eleven year study period were the longest-sustained increases ever found in a rigorous evaluation of a United States workforce development program."
Public Sector Benefit-Cost Return on Investment
"Results in this long-term follow-up also found that the program's benefits to society surpassed its costs. The net gain was $15,349 per participant... implying that the public received $1.66 for every $1 spent on the program."
Racial Earnings Gap Structural Mitigation
"From 2000 to 2019, the median wages of Black workers were 75.6 percent of white workers' median wages. These disparities often stem from structural barriers to opportunities faced by people of color in the American job market."
Randomized Controlled Evaluation of Workforce Programs
"Randomly sorting a population into two groups--one that receives a program and one that does not--ensures that the groups are, on average, balanced at the beginning of the study."
Sectoral Employment Impact Study (SEIS)
"Participants across all three programs earned a significant amount-$4,500 (an 18 percent increase) -more than those in the control group over the two year study period."
Transferable Industry-Recognized Credentials
"The transferable nature of the skills attained as well as the official certifications earned through the occupational skills training provided by sectoral employment programs may be a key element of the long-term earnings gains demonstrated by these programs."
Upfront Applicant Screening Mechanism
"Sectoral employment programs generally undertake some upfront screening for the motivations and basic skills (math and literacy) possessed by potential participants to focus program resources on candidates deemed most likely to benefit by program operators."
WorkAdvance Sectoral Advancement Model
"The pooled results across the four providers show that as a whole, Work Advance increased earnings among participants by approximately $1,945 (about a 14 percent increase) in the second year studied and $2,716 (about an 11 percent increase) in the fifth year studied."
YearUp Intensive Youth Sectoral Training Model
"By the third year in the study period, YearUp participants saw their earnings increase by $7,011 (a 40 percent increase) overall."