CEO Library

Interest and participation in short-term training programs have increased in recent years, highlighting the need to understand how program participants’ employment and earnings change over time. Looking only at participants’ average outcomes at specific points in time overlooks the potential variation in people’s experiences over time.

In 2016, the Chief Evaluation Office of the Department of Labor (DOL) contracted with Westat and its partner MDRC (the evaluation team) to conduct an evaluation of the strategies used in the H-1B TechHire Partnership (TechHire) and Strengthening Working Families Initiative (SWFI) grant programs and measure the programs’ impacts. This short paper describes the labor market outcomes of participants in the grant programs, combining data from two administrative sources.

In 2016, the Department of Labor’s (DOL) Chief Evaluation Office, in partnership with the Employment and Training Administration, contracted with Westat and its partner MDRC (the evaluation team) to conduct an evaluation of the strategies used in the H-1B TechHire Partnership (TechHire) and Strengthening Working Families Initiative (SWFI) grant programs and measure the programs’ impacts on participants’ outcomes. DOL and the evaluation team selected five of the 53 TechHire and SWFI programs to participate in a randomized controlled trial, or impact study.

Program developers and program staff need to understand how participant characteristics relate to training completion so that they can identify strategies and services needed for success and design programs to encourage training completion. The H-1B TechHire Partnership Grants (TechHire) and the Strengthening Working Families Initiative (SWFI) were designed to provide funding for programs that would make training more accessible to individuals who might otherwise experience barriers to training and employment.

The impact study estimated the impacts Reentry Project (RP) program participation had on employment, earnings, and criminal justice system involvement. It did so by comparing the outcomes of RP program participants to a comparison group of people with prior criminal justice involvement who received light-touch employment services from the Wagner-Peyser program.

The impact study estimated the impacts Reentry Project (RP) program participation had on employment, earnings, and criminal justice system involvement. It did so by comparing the outcomes of RP program participants to a comparison group of people with prior criminal justice involvement who received light-touch employment services from the Wagner-Peyser program.

In 2024, the Chief Evaluation Office (CEO) partnered with the Employment and Training Administration to fund Mathematica and its partners, American Institutes for Research and MEF Associates, to conduct the Evaluation of Wagner Peyser Act Employment Service Operations. The impact and implementation studies of the evaluation aim to provide critical information to DOL, state workforce agencies, and other stakeholders about how the Employment Service is implemented across the nation and the effectiveness of the state merit staffing model and alternate staffing arrangements.

This spotlight brief highlights common barriers faced by migrant and seasonal farmworkers to receiving unemployment insurance (UI) benefits and how UI Navigators in Wisconsin and New Mexico help to remove these barriers. This brief is part of a study funded by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), Chief Evaluation Office, that explores the implementation of Unemployment Insurance (UI) Navigator Grants, which seven states received in 2022.

The report provides analysis of intermediate impacts on participation in and completion of TechHire and Strengthening Working Families Initiative (SWFI) programs training, receipt of credentials, and use of child care and other services, as well as on longer-term outcomes such as employment and earnings, advancement and job quality, and other, exploratory outcomes such as overall well-being, health, and housing status at about 2 years following random assignment. 

The America’s Promise job-driven grants were designed to develop and expand regional partnerships to provide sectoral training programs that address the immediate needs of the regional labor market. The U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Chief Evaluation Office contracted with Mathematica and its partner, Social Policy Research Associates, to conduct an evaluation of the America’s Promise grants including an implementation study and an impact study.

The report presents results from the America’s Promise outcomes and impact analysis and draws on findings from the previously completed implementation study to provide context for the presented results (English et al. 2022a). Chapter 1 provides detailed information on the background for the evaluation and the guiding research questions for the outcomes and impact studies.

The report summarizes findings from a study examining the implementation of a series of training courses offered to compliance officers (COs) within the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). The study captures the perceptions of COs and managers about the trainings and looks at the accuracy and efficiency with which COs processed cases in the period following the trainings.

The report describes the quasi-experimental study using administrative data from the U.S. Army and the National Directory of New Hires that examined the impact of the Transition Assistance Program (TAP) on the employment and wages of recently separated Veterans. The study used a matched comparison group design to compare the outcomes of Veterans who participated in TAP to similar Veterans who did not participate. It presents the estimated impacts of participating in TAP up to 36 months post-separation.

Technical supplement to the Evaluation of the Transition Assistance Program (TAP) Impact Study Report that provides study details on propensity score matching, study sample, data elements and sources, data analyses, labor market context, outcomes of the overall sample, main impact analyses, subgroup analyses, associational analyses, and references.

The report examines the early implementation of the Transition Assistance Program (TAP) Employment Navigator and Partnership Pilot (ENPP), which launched April 1, 2021, and variations in implementation by site. Data collection for this study includes interviews and focus groups with pilot staff and transitioning Service members at the 13 pilot sites, as well as with national Veteran employment partners. Interim findings were shared with Veterans’ Employment and Training Service (VETS) leadership to inform pilot enhancement and expansion.

In 2023, the Chief Evaluation Office (CEO), in collaboration with the Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP), funded independent contractor Abt Associates to conduct the evaluation of ODEP’s Equitable Transition Models (ETM) Demonstration Projects. The ETM Evaluation aims to build the evidence of strategies to enable low-income youth and young adults with disabilities (Y&YAD) ages 16-24, including those experiencing homelessness, leaving foster care, or involved in the justice system, to successfully transition into the workforce.

In 2017, the Chief Evaluation Office (CEO), in collaboration with the Employment and Training Administration (ETA), funded contractor Mathematica, with Social Policy Research Associates, to conduct the Reentry Project Grants Evaluation.

The brief describes the 116 Reentry Project (RP) grantees funded in 2017, 2018, and 2019 and aims to address the research question, “What are the variations in the model, structure, partnerships, and services of the grants?” To answer this question, descriptive statistics from survey data collected in all three grant years was used to summarize and highlight findings about RP program structures, partnerships, and services, in addition to chi-squared tests to determine whether any differences across grant years and grant types were statistically significant.

As part of its support of Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) is committed to collecting and creating information in a way that supports data sharing and dissemination. Toward that end, DOL’s Chief Evaluation Office (CEO) hosted a series of three seminars during August 2022 on topics directly relevant to sharing data, protecting confidentiality, and building a culture to support sharing and responsible use. The one pager provides a summary of the seminars.

The brief draws on literature on risk/needs assessments in the criminal legal system and grantee survey data collected from 89 community-based organizations (CBOs) that were awarded U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Reentry Project (RP) grants from 2017 to 2019.

The report presents the findings from the Reentry Project (RP) Grants implementation study, which includes analysis of data from virtual sites visits with 27 sites that received 2018 or 2019 grant or subgrant awards, a grantee survey administered to all 2017, 2018, and 2019 grantees, and Workforce Integrated Performance System (WIPS) records dating from program year (PY)2018 Q1 to PY2021 Q2 or July 1, 2018 to December 31, 2021. This report focuses on grantee survey findings and analysis of data from WIPS for 2018 and 2019 grantees.

The Reentry Projects (RP) Grant Evaluation Design Pre-Specification Plan follows the template that evaluators must use to meet the pre-specification practices articulated in OMB Memo M-20-12 Phase 4 Implementation of the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018: Program Evaluation Standards and Practices.

The brief draws on a variety of sources, including survey responses from 89 Reentry Project (RP) grantees, interviews with RP program staff and partner organizations from 27 sites, interviews with 37 RP participants, interviews with 41 employers, and national workforce data from the Workforce Integrated Performance System (WIPS) all with the aim of describing the types of work-based learning (WBL) provided to RP participants, RP programs’ experiences in offering WBL opportunities to justice-involved individuals, and some lessons learned from offering WBL to the reentry population.

To assess the effectiveness of criminal justice policies, programs, or reforms, researchers frequently examine recidivism, defined as the return to criminal activity after a prior sanction (Council of State Governments Justice Center 2014; Deady 2014; National Institute of Justice 2022; Pratt and Eriksson 2013).

The brief draws on data collected from virtual site visits with 27 Reentry Project (RP) grantees to identify the industries grantees commonly focused on, describe industry-specific training they used, discuss the development of industry partnerships, and provide insights for connecting individuals with justice involvement to locally in-demand industries. Site visit data included interviews with 33 employers; together with grantee interviews, the visits highlighted successes and challenges grantees experienced when engaging and partnering with employers.