In 2018, the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research launched a major research initiative into place-based strategies for local prosperity. Place-based strategies are nothing new. For decades, cities, regions, and states have sought to increase the number of jobs available to residents, expand their tax base, and promote amenities and…

It has been known for decades that individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), including those with significant impairment or who have behaviors that others find challenging, can work when they are given appropriate supports (Smith, Belcher, & Juhrs, 1995). It is also clear that individuals with ASD can benefit from employment. Benefits…

We study how the employment effects of enterprise zones vary with their location, implementation, and administration, based on evidence from California. We use new establishment-level data and geographic mapping methods, coupled with a survey of enterprise zone administrators. Overall, the evidence indicates that enterprise zones do not increase…

A quasi-experiment using quantitative methods was conducted to examine the effects on academic student outcomes when a cohort of employed low-SES community college commuter students (the treatment group, N=198) participated in a comprehensive support and access intervention program, compared with similar students (the matched comparison group,…

This report on a job creation program for poor people deals with the organizations within which jobs were created, the responses of the organizations to the jobs, and the techniques which seemed useful in working with the organizations. Major sections include: (1) Employment, Unemployment and New Careers, (2) Organizational Barriers, (3) The Forms…

Public service employment is a cost-effective fiscal remedy in terms of jobs created within the first 12 months. Its effectiveness is enhanced if participants come from welfare or unemployment compensation programs. Other positive attributes are low inflationary impact and ability to be targeted to areas or groups. (SK)

Measures to directly create jobs have begun to occupy an important position in American economic policies. Most of these measures involve direct public service programs and employment subsidies. This paper explores the reasons for the emergence of such programs and notes that the economic rationale for these measures suggests a substantial…

This interdisciplinary conference was intended to make employment service personnel in two Appalachian states more aware of the social and psychological aspects of poverty and the training and employment needs of the poor. Papers are included by Robert J. Lampman, Frank H. Cassell, Louis A. Ferman, Charles C. Killingsworth, Robert C. Couthorn, and…

New York representatives Jack Kemp and Robert Garcia have introduced a bill in Congress that proposes to entice business to and create jobs in blighted urban areas by offering federal tax breaks. While the bill has gained some support, the suspicion remains that the plan will ultimately benefit business at the expense of the poor. (Author/MJL)

Analysis of 101 projects in 7 public works programs (PWPs) in Western Cape Province in the mid-1990s estimated the public expenditure needed to transfer resources to the poor. Comparison of the result with that generated by a hypothetical, untargeted transfer showed that most of the PWPs outperform the benchmarks. (Contains 26 references.) (JOW)

The main objective of this project is to demonstrate how a community action agency can operate manpower and economic development programs with continuing impact. The program offers: (1) training in four areas, (2) supportive services, including counseling and basic education, (3) youth programs, (4) economic development efforts to help the local…

The amendments to the Job Training Partnership Act refine the existing statute without disrupting basic program operations. The major provisions make adjustments in the following areas: (1) definition of economically disadvantaged; (2) designation of service delivery area; (3) the Literacy and Dropout Prevention Program; (4) protection for the…

In the absence of Federal job initiatives, over 14 million people cannot find full or part-time work. According to a report issued by the Full Employment Action Council and the National Committee for Full Employment, they are casualties of shifts in the economy and of deficit spending that favors the affluent and the military over the poor and the…

This study reviews the evidence on the impact that manpower training programs have had on the earnings of the poor, in order to assess the likely success that greatly expanded training programs would have in reducing the amount of public assistance payments and the size of welfare roles. Between 1963 and 1971, the Federal Government obligated 6.8…

The Department of Labor's Youth Incentive Entitlement Pilot Projects (YIEPP) was the nation's largest demonstration to test a new approach to solving the employment problems of disadvantaged youths. Sixteen- to 19-year-olds from low income or welfare households who had not yet graduated from high school were offered minimum-wage jobs, part-time…