Pathways to Work Evidence Clearinghouse
Looking to find interventions that help individuals with low-income succeed in finding and keeping gainful employment? The Pathways to Work Evidence Clearinghouse is an easy-to-use, credible resource designed to support TANF administrators, workforce leaders, and other employment service providers find what works to improve employment-related outcomes for their clients. A comprehensive, easy-to-use website, the Pathways Clearinghouse systematically evaluates and summarizes the evidence for employment-focused programs, connecting website users to evidence-based strategies.
Financial Incentives
The Pathways to Work Evidence Clearinghouse defines financial incentives as bonuses that clients receive for engaging in specific activities or achieving certain goals. This Evidence Snapshot describes the effectiveness of programs that were identified by the Pathways Clearinghouse as using financial incentives. It summarizes what we know about these programs and their impacts so TANF administrators, policymakers, researchers, and the general public can apply the evidence to questions and contexts that matter to them.
Pathways Clearinghouse: Overview of the Research
Introduction
Over the past several decades, evaluations have produced a great deal of research on interventions designed to improve the employment outcomes of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) recipients, beneficiaries of other public benefit programs, and other people with low incomes. But the sheer volume of research combined with the diversity of the findings can make it challenging to find applicable research, identify the most reliable and relevant studies, and use information from the studies to inform practical decision making.
What Works to Improve Employment and Earnings for People with Low Incomes
Introduction
Over the past several decades, evaluations have produced a great deal of research on interventions designed to improve the employment outcomes of people participating in Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and other public benefit programs and other people with low incomes. But the sheer volume of research combined with the diversity of the findings can make it challenging to identify those that are most reliable and relevant.
The Pathways Clearinghouse includes services tags for “Supportive services” as well as for specific supports like “Housing” and “Child care.” How does the Pathways Clearinghouse classify services into these groups? Why does it consider them separately?
Employment and training interventions commonly provide light-touch supports—such as money or vouchers for child care or transportation—to address barriers to training or work. The Pathways Clearinghouse categorizes these kinds of services as “supportive services,” because they are explicitly designed to support employment and training.
During Periods of Recession and Recovery — What Works to Improve Employment and Earnings for People with Low Incomes?
What do we know about how well interventions designed to improve employment and earnings for people with low incomes have worked in past periods of economic recession and recovery? Learning from what has been effective during past periods of economic difficulty can help inform how we meet today’s challenges.