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Evaluators randomly assigned a total of 4,554 single-parent Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) recipients who were required to enroll in the Job Opportunities and Basic Skills (JOBS) program in Grand Rapids into the Labor Force Attachment (LFA) program, the Human Capital Development (HCD) program, or the comparison group. The random assignment occurred between September 1991 and January 1994 and followed a JOBS orientation (which not all JOBS-mandatory individuals attended, but they faced sanctions for failing to appear). AFDC recipients were exempt if they had children younger than 1, had three or more children under age 10, were employed 30 hours or more per week, were medically unable to work, were in the last trimester of pregnancy, resided in a mental institution at all during the previous five years, had been enrolled in a rehabilitation center, or were taking medication for a mental illness. Voluntary JOBS participants were not randomly assigned and were excluded from the analysis. The study included two- and five-year follow-up surveys of randomly selected individuals who were randomly assigned between March 1992 and January 1994. This review focuses on LFA versus HCD. Other reviews contrast LFA and the comparison condition and HCD and the comparison condition.
Individuals were randomly assigned between September 1991 and January 1994. The study reports impacts five years after random assignment.
This study is part of the National Evaluation of Welfare-to-Work Strategies (NEWWS). The NEWWS evaluation was funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation and Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation) and by the U.S. Department of Education.
Among the 4,554 study participants (1,557 in the LFA program; 1,542 in the HCD program; and 1,455 in the comparison group), nearly 96 percent were female. The average age of study participants at the outset of the study was 28 years old. More than half of the participants were White, and almost 40 percent were Black. Nearly 58 percent were never married. Families had between 1 and 2 children, on average. Almost half (46 percent) of parents had some earnings in the past 12 months, and about 11 percent were employed at random assignment. Nearly 60 percent of parents had received a high school diploma or GED, and about 39 percent of parents were enrolled in education or training in the past 12 months. More than 99 percent received some AFDC benefits at the time of random assignment.
Michigan Department of Health and Human Services
NEWWS aimed to analyze the effectiveness of 11 mandatory welfare-to-work programs in 7 sites across the United States.
The Grand Rapids LFA program encouraged clients to move quickly into work without being selective about which job to take. Participants spent two weeks in a job club operated by public school staff, then began applying to jobs for up to three weeks. Participants who did not find a job during this period participated in unpaid work experiences, more job searching, vocational training, or basic education. Participants who completed job club but remained unemployed could receive multiple rounds of short-term education or vocational training for periods of nine months. Case managers focused primarily on monitoring and enforcing participation and could impose financial sanctions for nonparticipation. Child care and transportation assistance were available.
The HCD program focused on providing education and training. Staff stressed that clients should spend time receiving education or training to prepare them for good jobs. The program began with a 15-hour, weeklong formal assessment component, during which public school staff assessed participants’ achievement, aptitude, and career interests. Participants then usually completed either high school completion programs (distinct from GED classes) or vocational training. If participants did not have a high school diploma or GED, the program provided basic education classes in the public school system to help participants make progress toward their goals (such as increasing their literacy level or obtaining a GED certificate). As with the LFA program, case managers focused primarily on monitoring and enforcing participation and could impose financial sanctions for nonparticipation. Child care and transportation assistance were available.
AFDC could be decreased if clients did not comply with program requirements.
For the LFA group, job clubs lasted for about one month, and clients who completed job club but remained unemployed could receive multiple rounds of short-term education or vocational training for nine months. The study did not specify how long the program monitored clients to examine whether a sanction should be applied to their case.
NEWWS programs were funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services through the Family Support Act.
The study took place in Grand Rapids, MI.
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