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In Portland, Oregon, evaluators identified welfare recipients who had been assigned to two job placement centers participating in the Job Opportunities and Basic Skills Training (JOBS) program and then subsequently found a job. The research team randomly assigned people to either the Post-Employment Services Demonstration (PESD) group or to a comparison group. Among the 804 newly employed welfare recipients identified, 425 (52.9 percent) were randomly assigned to the comparison group. Researchers attempted to collect administrative records for every person in the study; about one year after random assignment, researchers selected a random subsample of 424 newly employed welfare recipients (who enrolled in the demonstration between July 1994 and August 1995) for a follow-up survey .
Individuals were randomly assigned from March 1994 to December 1995 and were followed for two years thereafter.
The average age of sample members was 30. Most sample members were female (95 percent) and, on average, their households included fewer than two children, the youngest of whom was nearly 5 years old. About 22 percent of sample members had not completed high school or received a GED. Nearly all participants were required to participate in the JOBS program. About 60 percent received Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) all of the year before random assignment. About 12 percent reported receiving welfare most of the time while growing up.
Oregon AFDC/Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
The program was a demonstration program implemented for the first time during the evaluation.
Portland hired a special unit of retention-focused PESD case managers. PESD case managers provided people enrolled in PESD with counseling and support, job search assistance, help with benefits, and service referrals tailored to the needs of individual recipients. The program also increased the amount of financial support available to newly employed welfare recipients for initial employment expenses and expanded the range of eligible expenses.
Sample members assigned to the comparison group received the regular services available to employed welfare recipients in Oregon. In Oregon, JOBS case managers continued providing some counseling to their clients after their clients became employed.
The majority of participants were required to participate in JOBS to receive benefits.
The program expected to maintain contact with all clients during the first few months after they became employed, then expected the need for contact to decline. Case managers still had contact with about half of treatment group members one year after they became employed.
ACF, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Portland, OR
The study reports employment, earnings, and public benefit receipt outcomes for other months and quarters that are not the focus of this review.