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New Estimates of Public Employment and Training Program Net Impacts: A Nonexperimental Evaluation of the Workforce Investment Act Program

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Author Info

  • Heinrich, Carolyn J.

    () (University of Texas at Austin)

  • Mueser, Peter R.

    () (University of Missouri-Columbia)

  • Troske, Kenneth

    () (University of Kentucky)

  • Jeon, Kyung-Seong

    () (University of Missouri-Columbia)

  • Kahvecioglu, Daver C.

    () (Impaq International)

Abstract

This paper presents nonexperimental net impact estimates for the Adult and Dislocated Worker programs under the Workforce Investment Act (WIA), the primary federal job training program in the U.S, based on administrative data from 12 states, covering approximately 160,000 WIA participants and nearly 3 million comparison group members. The key measure of interest is the difference in average quarterly earnings or employment attributable to WIA program participation for those who participate, estimated for up to four years following entry into the program using propensity score matching methods. The results for the average participant in the WIA Adult program show that participating is associated with a several-hundred-dollar increase in quarterly earnings. Adult program participants who obtain training have lower earnings in the months during training and the year after exit than those who don’t receive training, but they catch up within 10 quarters, ultimately registering large total gains. The marginal benefits of training exceed, on average, $400 in earnings each quarter three years after program entry. Dislocated Workers experience several quarters for which earnings are depressed relative to comparison group workers after entering WIA, and although their earnings ultimately match or overtake the comparison group, the benefits they obtain are smaller than for those in the Adult program.

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Bibliographic Info

Paper provided by Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in its series IZA Discussion Papers with number 4569.

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Length: 59 pages
Date of creation: Nov 2009
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4569

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Keywords: nonexperimental program evaluation; workforce investment act;

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References

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  1. James J. Heckman & Petra E. Todd, 2009. "A note on adapting propensity score matching and selection models to choice based samples," Econometrics Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 12(s1), pages S230-S234, 01.
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Cited by:
  1. Dolton, Peter & Smith, Jeffrey A., 2011. "The Impact of the UK New Deal for Lone Parents on Benefit Receipt," IZA Discussion Papers 5491, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
  2. Holzer, Harry J., 2012. "Raising Job Quality and Worker Skills in the US: Creating More Effective Education and Workforce Development Systems in States," IZA Policy Papers 42, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
  3. Gueorgui Kambourov & Iourii Manovskii & Miana Plesca, 2012. "Occupational Mobility and the Returns to Training," Working Papers tecipa-444, University of Toronto, Department of Economics.
  4. Martin Biewen & Bernd Fitzenberger & Aderonke Osikominu & Marie Paul, 2012. "The Effectiveness of Public Sponsored Training Revisited: The Importance of Data and Methodological Choices," NRN working papers 2012-09, The Austrian Center for Labor Economics and the Analysis of the Welfare State, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria.
  5. Lechner, Michael & Wunsch, Conny, 2011. "Sensitivity of Matching-Based Program Evaluations to the Availability of Control Variables," IZA Discussion Papers 5553, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).

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