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To be eligible for Job Corps, potential participants had to be legal U.S. residents ages 16 to 24 and had to be living in households receiving Aid to Families with Dependent Children or households with income below the poverty level. In addition, potential participants had to demonstrate the capacity and aspirations necessary to benefit from Job Corps, be free of serious behavioral and medical problems, and have arranged for adequate child care (if applicable). 80,883 youth who applied to Job Corps for the first time from November 1994 to December 1995, and who were found eligible for Job Corps by February 1996, were randomly assigned to the intervention and comparison groups. Job Corps staff implemented the random assignment. About 7 percent of eligible applicants (5,977 youth) were assigned to the comparison group. All of these youth were included in the research sample. About 13 percent of the youth in the intervention group (9,409 youth) were randomly selected to participate in the study. The remaining 65,497 youth who applied and were eligible were randomly assigned to a nonresearch group, meaning they were neither in the comparison nor the intervention group but could still receive program services. The study authors used several data sources, including three surveys, Social Security data, administrative tax data, and unemployment insurance records for 22 randomly selected states.
People enrolled in the study from November 1994 to February 1996. Follow-up occurred for up to 20 years.
The U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration, funded the study.
All youth were legal U.S. residents ages 16 to 24 and were living in households that received Aid to Families with Dependent Children or had income below the poverty level. Slightly more than half of sample members (59 percent) were male. On average, sample members were 19 years old. Slightly more than three-quarters (77 percent) lacked a high school diploma or equivalent certificate. About half (47 percent) were Black, not Hispanic; 27 percent were White, not Hispanic; and 18 percent were Hispanic.
Job Corps Centers were operated by various organizations under contract with the U.S. Department of Labor.
The Job Corps program has been serving eligible youth since 1964.
Job Corps offered intensive academic and nonacademic classroom instruction (including soft skills training) and vocational training. The program also offered health care, education, counseling, job placement services (including job search assistance and job development), and services to support the transition to work. Most participants resided at Job Corps Centers while participating in training and education, although some students continued to live at home. On average, study participants stayed in the program for eight months.
People in the comparison group were not allowed to enroll in Job Corps for three years, but they could enroll in other programs available in their communities. (A small fraction of comparison group members, 1.4 percent, did enroll in Job Corps before the three years had passed.)
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The average period of participation per enrollee was eight months. About 28 percent of all enrollees participated for fewer than three months, and nearly one-quarter participated for more than a year.
U.S. Department of Labor
All 105 Job Corps outreach and admissions agencies operating at the time in the 48 contiguous states and the District of Columbia participated in the study.
Physical health, mental health, substance abuse, criminal justice, family formation, housing, nutrition, financial assets, parenting and co-parenting, couple relationships, and child well-being