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Fifteen counties implemented JOBS on a demonstration basis during or soon after January 1989. New JOBS-mandatory clients were assigned to JOBS or the comparison condition through December 1991. Between 1989 and 1991, the entire caseload in the 15 demonstration counties was randomly assigned to intervention and comparison groups at a ratio of nine to one. Evaluators used Ohio’s caseload management system to automatically implement random assignment, using an algorithm based on client social security numbers. Problems with random assignment resulted in 12 percent of comparison group members receiving JOBS services. Evaluators identified and removed these clients from the cases that they analyzed. They also removed cases that moved away from the evaluation counties after random assignment.
This study focuses on participants entering the program in 1989 and 1990, and outcomes were measured for three years after program entry.
Ohio's Job Opportunity and Basic Skills Training Program.
The program under study was the JOBS program (initially known as Fair Work) that used an assessment-based approach in which caseworkers had discretion in placing clients into activities. Clients without a high school diploma or equivalent were encouraged (not required) to enroll in basic education classes (such as Adult Basic Education, English as a Second Language, and general education diploma preparation). Clients with a high school degree or equivalent were assigned to a Community Work Experience Program site or to one of the following education and training activities: postsecondary education, job-readiness training, or job skills training. Clients with recent work experience were assigned to job club, a job search program.
Those assigned to the comparison group were excluded from the program; they had no mandatory participation requirement, nor could they participate in the work program services on a voluntary basis.
Participation was mandatory for clients assigned to the intervention group and noncompliance could result in reductions in benefits.