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…

We investigated the extent to which employment consultants implemented job development practices recommended in the literature when assisting job seekers with intellectual or developmental disabilities. We contacted 83 employment consultants from 25 employment programs in Minnesota and Connecticut. Fifty-nine participants were eligible and…

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…

One incentive state governments are offering industries to relocate is customized, state-supported training. A pool of skilled workers is a distinct competitive advantaged in attracting new businesses. (SK)

Describes program innovations to keep older workers employed: retraining, job sharing, flexible working hours, job redesign, and phased retirement. Addresses costs and savings, disincentives for workers and employers, and future trends. (SK)

Presents eight noninstructional strategies for improving employees' performance in any organization. These alternatives to instruction include job redesign and reassignment, recruitment, organizational development, facilities and tool redesign, incentive and feedback systems, and provision of a strong rationale for the desired performance so…

This handbook for businesses explains the benefits and incentives provided by the Targeted Jobs Tax Credit (TJTC) and the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) and shows how businesses can take advantage of them. An introduction summarizes the two pieces of legislation. Section 1 furnishes the specifics on the TJTC and explains how businesses can…

Comprehensive reform in the ways teachers are recruited, trained, evaluated, and rewarded is required if the status of the teaching profession and the present quality of education is to be improved. A new career structure, simplification of certification, and reconceptualization of the teaching role are possible remedies. (KH)

The current imbalance between teaching basic skills and higher order skills can be addressed by redesigning teaching into two specialized areas. Using the principal-agent model and applying ideas from organization theory, the advantages of restructuring teaching to increase emphasis on problem-solving and higher order skills are discussed. (SLD)

The net effect on employment of structural changes now occurring in the United States will be determined by the actions that government, management, and labor take to create and support the conditions for new opportunity and to encourage people to move from old to new work. Many of the measures that need to be taken to ensure profitability involve…

This guide, based on approaches for targeting jobs and business opportunities that were developed during the Targeted Jobs Demonstration Program (TJDP), contains strategies and techniques for ensuring that some of the benefits of economic development investments are directed to low-income individuals and small and minority businesses. Addressed in…

Discusses the concept of motivation and two central, theoretical disputes: how intrinsic and extrinsic rewards function and whether incentives must be focused to be effective. Reviews studies on merit pay and career ladder plans and considers the potential role of group-based collegial incentives in teacher motivation. Appended are 123 footnotes.…

The report consists of three parts: "The Design of a Federal Employment Program to Counter Recession"; "The Design of a Federal Employment Program in a Strategy to Raise Low Earnings"; and "The Design of a Guaranteed Job Opportunity as a Part of Welfare Reform". In Part 1, an Anti-Recession Program (ARP) is proposed. ARP is an automatically…

This report describes the Jobs-Plus approach, an attempt to transform low-work, high-welfare public housing developments into high-work, low-welfare communities. It highlights the rationale of the approach, the way the demonstration has been set up to test the approach in the field, and what has been accomplished so far by the seven cities chosen…

The Youth Incentive Entitlement Pilot Projects were set up to aid disadvantaged youths, ages 16 to 19, guaranteeing them a part-time job during the school year and a full-time job during summer months on the condition that they remain in, or return to, a secondary school or enroll in an equivalency education program. It was started in January,…