This report summarizes the final impact results for the national Employment Retention and Advancement (ERA) project. This project tested, using a random assignment design, the effectiveness of numerous programs intended to promote steady work and career advancement. All the programs targeted current and former welfare recipients and other low-wage…

Research completed since the 1980s has yielded substantial knowledge about how to help welfare recipients and other low-income individuals prepare for and find jobs. Many participants in these successful job preparation and placement programs, however, ended up in unstable, low-paying jobs, and little was known about how to effectively help them…

This report presents an assessment of the implementation and the two-year impacts of a program in Texas that aimed to promote job placement, employment retention, and advancement among applicants and recipients to the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. The program in Texas is part of the Employment Retention and Advancement…

This publication highlights key messages and themes of a conference to discuss critical questions, challenges, and opportunities facing California's welfare and workforce development systems. It is intended as a resource manual that presents the most up-to-date thinking on how policies and services can be designed to better meet the needs of…

This document is intended to provide business leaders, policymakers, and others with information about the operation and value of six work support programs designed to help low-income parents obtain the assistance needed to enter a job, retain employment, and better provide for their families' needs. The six programs profiled are as follows: the…

This Congressional report contains the testimony and documents presented for the record of a hearing to gather input regarding the Strengthening Working Families Act of 2001, which was drafted to provide the assistance needed by former welfare recipients and other poor working parents to remain employed and advance in the labor market. The…

This document examines policy and program issues related to promoting employment retention among recipients of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) who have moved from welfare into employment. The document begins with background information about the work requirements and time limits affecting TANF recipients. The second section…

This report examines the disability community's efforts to help individuals who have significant disabilities access and maintain employment. It identifies how welfare agencies can learn from and build upon lessons from the disability community. Chapter 1 describes the hard-to-employ (HTE) Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) population…

Research was conducted to find out the following: (1) whether welfare recipients with impairments (or their able-bodied parents, if they are children) were as likely to exit Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) as are their counterparts without impairments, and 2) the sources of income reported by leavers with and without impairments.…

In this report, employment retention and advancement under Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) was examined by reviewing research findings regarding labor market development since 1996. According to the research, most of those moving from welfare to work have found employment in low-wage jobs and experienced frequent job losses and…

The Employment Retention and Advancement (ERA) project was undertaken to identify effective strategies for helping low-income parents work more steadily and advance in the labor market. The 15 ERA demonstration projects that were operating in nine states (California, Florida, Illinois, Minnesota, New York, Oregon, South Carolina; Tennessee, and…

Unemployment wage data were evaluated to assess employment, job retention, and wage progression for graduates of Community Jobs (CJ), a short-term public job creation program for the hard to employ in the state of Washington. The following were among the findings: (1) 66% of all participants were employed after graduating from CJ; (2) 53% were…

This document examines strategies for promoting job retention and career advancement for recipients of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). The document begins by considering the problems faced by less-skilled TANF recipients in finding, retaining, and advancing in jobs. Section 2 examines the following policy issues: (1) the aims of…

Surging demand for workers, growing income inequality, and passage of welfare reforms have made work force development one of the United States' key national concerns. Public/Private Ventures has been working with various states to design work force development strategies that seek to address the concerns of many work force development specialists…

This report presents the testimony and submissions presented at the first of a series of Congressional hearings on workforce development and reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act. Statements were given by the following individuals: (1) Buck McKeon, U.S. (United States) Congressman from California; (2) John Tierney, U.S. Congressman from…