The retail industry is a huge and growing sector of the U.S. economy, accounting for about 10 percent of the nation's jobs in 2013 and projected to increase by 7 percent between 2012 and 2022. The sheer size of the industry and the number of employment opportunities it affords low-skilled workers led MDRC to explore the potential of the retail…

This document presents the report on the formative evaluation of the Aboriginal Skills and Employment Partnership (ASEP) program conducted by Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC), covering the period from November 2003 to November 2006. The report is organized into four sections. Section 1 presents an overview of the ASEP program…

A study was conducted to determine what was happening in literacy programs as a result of the major welfare reform law passed in 1996, and whether basic skills instruction was part of the solution. A nationwide search for exemplary programs that are using basic skills instruction as a fundamental component of assisting welfare recipients in moving…

In response to Congressional direction, an assessment was undertaken of programs developed by the Department of Defense (DoD) that can be made available to civilian organizations to provide immediate support and assistance to upgrade skills for better civilian employment opportunities. The assessment focuses on interactive courseware programs and…

Demographic and educational data were gathered from July 1986 through April 1989 for approximately 121,504 participants in Greater Avenues for Independence (GAIN) from all 58 counties in California that have implemented GAIN. Instrumentation was the GAIN Appraisal Program, three tests developed to provide an initial appraisal of participants'…

Vermont's Welfare Restructuring Project (WRP), which was implemented in 1994-2001, required that single-parent welfare recipients who could not find wage-paying jobs after receiving cash assistance for 30 months accept work in subsidized, minimum-wage community service employment (CSE) positions to satisfy their work requirement and improve their…

A project reviewed and assessed the scope and availability of Public Service Employment (PSE) participant training. It explored alternatives on how training resources can be utilized and best administered to maximize participant transition to unsubsidized employment. Project phases were program administrator interviews, employing agency and…

The effects of adult education in welfare-to-work programs were examined in a national evaluation of welfare-to-work strategies. The evaluation used a random research design to estimate the overall effects of welfare-to-work programs in the following states: Georgia, Ohio, Michigan, Oklahoma, Oregon, and California. The study focused on the…

The value of the output and services produced by students while enrolled in the Job Corps was estimated by analyzing data from a sample of 2 projects from each of 23 Job Corps centers. The projects were subjected to in-depth analysis based on independent-estimate and relative-productivity approaches. The following were among the key findings: (1)…