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A Helping Hand Goes a Long Way: Long-Term Effects of Counseling and Support to Welfare-to-Work Program Recipients

Author

Listed:
  • Gustavo J. Bobonis
  • Aneta Bonikowska
  • Philip Oreopoulos
  • W Craig Riddell
  • Steven P. Ryan

Abstract

We study the medium- and long-run impacts of the Canada Self-Sufficiency Project (SSP) Plus program, which randomly offered intensive employment support services for up to three years to long-term welfare recipients eligible for temporary earnings subsidies. We examine whether this intervention-designed to address both economic and psychosocial barriers to finding and retaining desirable employment-produced long-run changes in individuals' socioeconomic trajectories. We link study participants to high-frequency survey data and to their federal tax and employer-employee matched records for up to 20 years following random assignment. The intensive services treatment resulted in a 20-27 percent increase in participants' annual earnings over the 20-year period and sustained increases in full-time employment during the first decade post-intervention. As potential mechanisms, treated individuals engaged in more job search and job-to-job transitions and secured employment in higher-wage jobs and at higher-paying firms.

Suggested Citation

  • Gustavo J. Bobonis & Aneta Bonikowska & Philip Oreopoulos & W Craig Riddell & Steven P. Ryan, 2026. "A Helping Hand Goes a Long Way: Long-Term Effects of Counseling and Support to Welfare-to-Work Program Recipients," RFBerlin Discussion Paper Series 26208, ROCKWOOL Foundation Berlin (RFBerlin).
    • Handle: RePEc:crm:wpaper:26208
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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • I30 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General
    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs

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