Earnings

Earnings

Jobs-First Greater Avenues for Independence (GAIN) Program had the largest effects on long-term annual earnings (an average of $2,573 per year). Jobs-First GAIN emphasized a rapid employment strategy to help recipients of Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) improve their earnings and employment outcomes. 

Employment

Employment

Jobs-First Greater Avenues for Independence (GAIN) Program had the largest effects on long-term employment (an average of 6 percentage points). Jobs-First GAIN emphasized a rapid employment strategy to help recipients of Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) improve their earnings and employment outcomes. 

Public benefit receipt

Public benefit receipt

Family Transition Program had the largest effects on long-term benefit receipt (decreasing the amount of public benefits received by $567 per year). The Family Transition Program (FTP) was a welfare reform initiative designed to improve the self-sufficiency of single-parent recipients of Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) in Florida.

Effects on long-term benefit receipt

$567

Decrease long-term benefit receipt

Education and training

Education and training

Atlanta Human Capital Development (HCD) Program had the largest effects on education and training (increasing the attainment of a degree or credential by an average of 8 percentage points). To help participants secure jobs that could lead to economic self-sufficiency, Atlanta’s HCD program focused on providing education and training to single parents who were Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) recipients.

Wider Opportunities for Women’s (WOW’s) Minority Female Single Parent (MFSP) Program

WOW placed participants in specific training courses, based on standardized testing, that either provided basic education and skills training or specific technical training. Participants who scored at the sixth- or seventh-grade level on standardized testing enrolled in an 11-week basic educational skills and employability development course, followed by three weeks of unpaid work.

Minority Female Single Parent Demonstration Program (MSFP) at Opportunities Industrialization Center (OIC)

OIC’s MSFP participants completed a standardized test of their basic academic skills before being assigned to remedial courses or specific job-training programs. Remedial courses (GED, English as a second language, literacy) were assigned to those who scored below a certain threshold or lacked a high school credential and lasted three months. Participants with a high school credential and those who passed their remedial courses were assigned to six to nine months of job-specific skills training coupled with job-search training and assistance.

Riverside Labor Force Attachment (LFA) Program (as compared with Riverside Human Capital Development [HCD] Program)

The Riverside LFA program encouraged clients to move quickly into work without being selective about which job to take. Participants first spent three weeks in a job club operated by Job Opportunities and Basic Skills (JOBS) program staff at the local public assistance office. Then, participants applied to jobs for at least 2 weeks and were required to make 25 to 35 employer contacts per week.

Riverside Labor Force Attachment (LFA)

Intervention (standard name)

The LFA program implemented in Riverside, CA, encouraged clients to move quickly into work without being selective about which job to take. Participants first spent one week in a job club operated by Job Opportunities and Basic Skills (JOBS) program staff at the local public assistance office. Then, participants applied to jobs for at least two weeks and were required to make 25 to 35 employer contacts per week.

Michigan Opportunity and Skills Training (MOST) followed by Work First

MOST was Michigan's Jobs Opportunities and Basic Skills Training program for individuals receiving AFDC. Michigan changed MOST after receiving one of Section 1115 waivers to the rules in effect at the time for the AFDC program. These Section 1115 waivers allowed states to test new approaches to advance the objectives of the AFDC program. Detroit's MOST program, with the changes made under the waiver, was included in a five-year national evaluation of workforce programs for individuals receiving AFDC which began in 1992.

Integrated Case Management

Intervention (standard name)

Integrated Case Management participants worked with a single case manager to improve their educational and vocational skills and determine their welfare eligibility and payment issuance. Participants who did not have a high school diploma or general education diploma were assigned to basic education classes; participants with basic education credentials were assigned to vocational training, postsecondary education, or work experience. Case managers provided job search assistance after they determined that participants were employable.

Chicago Employment Retention and Advancement (ERA)

Chicago ERA matched participants with a career and income advisor (CIA) who counseled them about how to advance in their current jobs and apply for higher-paying jobs. Participants could receive other education and training services and financial incentives for maintaining contact with their case manager to verify their work hours. A30-hour work requirement was part of their TANF participation, and failure to work at this level could result in a sanction of their TANF benefits. The program served participants for up to  two years, even if they left TANF.

Work Choice

Intervention (standard name)

Work Choice was one of the demonstration projects made possible by Section 1115 waivers to the rules in effect at the time for the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program. These Section 1115 waivers allowed states to test new approaches to advance the objectives of the AFDC program.

Traditional Case Management

Intervention (standard name)

Traditional Case Management participants worked with one case manager to improve educational and vocational skills and with a separate income maintenance case manager to determine their welfare eligibility and payment issuance. Participants who did not have a high school diploma or general education diploma were assigned to basic education classes; participants with basic education credentials were assigned to vocational training, postsecondary education, or work experience. Case managers provided job search assistance after they determined that participants were employable.