Governance Matters: The Influence of Program Structure and Management on Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) Performance

The Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) allows for considerable differentiation in administrative structures and management strategies in the more than 600 local service delivery areas created under the Act. Data collected for the National JTPA Study permit empirical analysis of a relatively rich array of variables bearing on program performance. In addition to individual-level data on client outcomes, services, and characteristics, these data allow us to construct variables relating to the structural and management aspects of program governance for 16 local service delivery areas (SDAs). Using hierarchical linear models, we are able to explain virtually all of the cross-SDA variation in individual earnings and employment outcomes. In summary, a strong emphasis on getting people into jobs on the part of a Private Industry Council with clear authority over program administration will produce significantly higher earnings and greater rates of entered employment than the other SDA administrative models that we observed over three years at the 16 sites in the National JTPA Study. Management strategies also have a significant influence on client outcomes, and these effects are larger for more straightforward, easily monitored incentive policies that contribute to a coherent focus on program goals among management and staff.