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This study was a randomized controlled trial. To qualify for study enrollment, people had to (1) be unmarried, (2) be a U.S. citizen or resident, (3) be between ages 21 and 64, (4) not have dependent children, (5) have an annual income less than $30,000, and (6) not be a recipient of or applicant for Supplemental Security Income or Social Security Disability Insurance. Study enrollment took place from fall 2015 to spring 2016. Afterward, half of the study participants were randomly assigned to the intervention condition (Paycheck Plus for three years), and the other half were randomly assigned to the comparison condition (they did not receive a tax credit from Paycheck Plus but were still eligible for other existing tax credits).
April 2016 to March 2018
ACF, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
The sample included 3,972 people, of whom 61 percent identified as male, 60 percent were older than 35 at enrollment, and 86 percent identified as Black. Sixty percent of the people in the sample had a high school diploma or GED at the time of enrollment, and 14 percent did not have high school diploma or GED. Almost half of the people in the sample (46 percent) reported they were working at the time of enrollment, and 29 percent reported working full time. Forty-two percent of participants were noncustodial parents, and 28 percent of participants had previously been incarcerated.
MDRC and United Way of Greater Atlanta
The program did not exist in Atlanta before implementation for this study. However, the same intervention (Paycheck Plus, including a bonus of up to $2,000 for low-income workers without dependent children) was also implemented and evaluated in New York City from 2014 to 2016.
The intervention condition consisted of a tax credit, or bonus, worth up to $2,000 for workers with low incomes who did not have dependent children. All participants in the intervention group received the bonus, and half of the intervention group participants (1,000 participants, selected randomly) also received referrals to services via a call from a United Way counselor. These services included work and work-based learning services, work readiness activities, health services, financial education and literacy, support services (soup kitchens/food pantries and transitional housing), and training services. Paycheck Plus was a three-year intervention.
Participants in the comparison condition did not receive tax credits from the intervention but were eligible to receive any other existing tax credits.
None
The intervention provided services (the tax credit or bonus) for the years 2017, 2018, and 2019 (based on participants' earnings in the previous year—that is, 2016, 2017, and 2018).
ACF in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, U.S. Department of Labor, Ford Foundation, Annie E. Casey Foundation, W. K. Kellogg Foundation, JPB Foundation, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Arnold Ventures, Kresge Foundation, and European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme LifePath Project
The study took place in Atlanta, GA. The program was provided through United Way of Greater Atlanta and its Volunteer Income Tax Assistance locations.
Other benefits receipt and family economic self-sufficiency