Absence of conflict of interest.
Citation
Kanengiser, H., & Schaberg, K. (2022). Employment and earnings effects of the WorkAdvance demonstration after seven years. March. New York: MDRC. [All Sites – Pooled]
Highlights
- The study's objective was to examine the long-term impact of WorkAdvance on employment and earnings for adults who were unemployed or earning low wages.
- The study was a randomized controlled trial that assigned individuals across four sites to either the WorkAdvance (treatment) group or to a control group. The primary data source was administrative data on employment and earnings from the National Directory of New Hires (NDNH). The authors used a statistical model to compare the outcomes of the treatment and control group members.
- The study found that, seven years after random assignment, participants who were assigned to the WorkAdvance intervention had higher average earnings and were more likely to earn $40,000 or more, compared to participants assigned to the control group. The study did not detect a statistically significant association between assignment to the WorkAdvance Intervention and employment in year seven following random assignment.
- The quality of causal evidence presented in this report is high because it was based on a well-implemented randomized controlled trial. This means we are confident that the estimated effects are attributable to WorkAdvance, and not to other factors.
Intervention Examined
WorkAdvance
Features of the Intervention
WorkAdvance was informed by prior research on sectoral strategies. Programs that employ a sectoral strategies approach aim to train individuals for high-quality jobs in specific industries or occupational clusters with robust local demand and opportunities for career progression. WorkAdvance also incorporated insights from earlier studies on job retention and career advancement strategies. WorkAdvance aimed to expand on these existing findings by investigating whether sector programs emphasizing career advancement could serve as a pathway to upward mobility for individuals with low incomes.
The WorkAdvance program model has five main components: 1) intensive screening, 2) career-readiness services, 3) occupational skills training leading to a credential, 4) job development and placement, 5) retention and advancement services.
Features of the Study
The study was a randomized control trial that assigned individuals across four sites to either the WorkAdvance program group or a control group. Individuals assigned to the control group had the option to enroll in other community services. The WorkAdvance intervention was delivered by distinct local organizations at four study sites: Per Scholas in the Bronx, New York; St. Nicks Alliance in Brooklyn, New York; Madison Strategies Group in Tulsa, Oklahoma; and Towards Employment in northeast Ohio.
In the pooled analysis, the sample included participants from all four WorkAdvance study sites, with 1,293 individuals assigned to the WorkAdvance group and 1,271 assigned to the control group. The study also examined the impact of WorkAdvance programs separately for each site. Findings from these analyses are reported in separate study profiles.
WorkAdvance targeted adults who were either unemployed or earning low wages (less than $15 per hour), with family incomes below 200 percent of the federal poverty level. The demographic characteristics of individual study participants varied by site. However, on average, study participants were about 35 years old. At baseline, approximately 10-30 percent of participants had already obtained a post-secondary degree, between 11-27 percent of participants were employed, and between 10 and 40 percent of participants had a prior criminal conviction. The treatment group received the intervention, while the comparison group had the option to enroll in other community services.
The primary data source used was administrative data on employment and earnings from the NDNH. This dataset provided insights into the long-term economic outcomes of study participants, collected seven years after random assignment. This extended follow-up period aimed to assess whether the WorkAdvance programs led to sustained career advancements beyond initial job placements. The study had two pre-specified confirmatory outcomes: 1) total annual earnings in year seven following random assignment; and 2) the share of individuals with earnings of $40,000 or more in year seven following random assignment.
The authors utilized a statistical model to compare the long-term outcomes of individuals assigned to the treatment and control groups.
Findings
Earnings and Wages
- The study found that, on average, individuals assigned to the WorkAdvance group earned $1,909 more than individuals assigned to the control group, seven years after random assignment.
- The study found that individuals assigned to the WorkAdvance intervention were 4.2 percentage points more likely than individuals assigned to the control group to have earned $40,000 or more, seven years after random assignment.
- The study did not detect any statistically significant association between assignment to the WorkAdvance intervention and an individual’s likelihood of earning more than $30,000 or more, or earning $20,000 or more, seven years after random assignment.
Employment
- The study did not detect any statistically significant association between assignment to the WorkAdvance intervention and an individual’s likelihood of being employed in year seven after random assignment.
Considerations for Interpreting the Findings
The pooled results summarized in this profile reflect the average intervention impacts across all four study sites. However, the authors also found variation in impacts across study sites.
Although the pooled analysis found that the intervention had a favorable, statistically significant impact on average earnings and the likelihood of earning $40,000 or more in year seven after random assignment, this finding was driven by the particularly large impact on year-seven earnings observed at single site: Per Scholas in the Bronx, New York. The study did not detect a statistically significant association between assignment to the WorkAdvance intervention and earnings seven years after random assignment at any of the other study sites.
Causal Evidence Rating
The quality of causal evidence presented in this report is high because it was based on a well-implemented randomized controlled trial. This means we are confident that the estimated effects are attributable to WorkAdvance, and not to other factors.