Absence of conflict of interest.
Citation
Highlights
- The study’s objective was to examine the impact of the Postemployment Service Demonstration (PESD) program on employment, earnings, and public benefits receipt. This profile focuses on the San Antonio PESD program. The authors investigated similar research questions for other sites, the profiles of which can be found here.
- The study used a randomized controlled trial to compare employment, earnings, and public benefits receipt between individuals who received PESD services and a control group. Drawing on administrative records, the authors used statistical models to compare the outcomes between the PESD group and control group two years after random assignment.
- The study found that San Antonio PESD program participants received significantly less monthly public benefits than the control group.
- This study receives a high evidence rating. This means we are confident that any estimated effects are attributable to Postemployment Services Demonstration, and not to other factors.
Intervention Examined
San Antonio’s Postemployment Service Demonstration (PESD)
Features of the Intervention
The Job Opportunities and Basic Skills Training program (JOBS program) is a welfare reform initiative under the Family Support Act of 1988, that attempts to promote work by increasing education and training. The Postemployment Services Demonstration (PESD) program is funded by the Administration for Children and Families to provide case management services to newly employed Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) recipients. The goal of PESD is to promote job retention, rapid reemployment for those who lost their jobs, and to reduce welfare dependency.
The PESD program in San Antonio, Texas assigned individuals a case manager who provided counseling and support, job search assistance, help with applying for benefits, referrals to services, and payments for work related expenses. The San Antonio PESD program targeted individuals who were welfare recipients who had a high school diploma or equivalent and worked twelve of the past 24 months or received certificates from a training program.
Features of the Study
The study used a randomized controlled trial to examine the impact of San Antonio’s PESD program on employment, earnings, and public benefits receipt. The authors identified newly employed welfare recipients who had been referred to or participated in the JOBS program between March 1994 and December 1995. Of the 778 newly employed individuals, the authors randomly assigned 386 individuals to the program group to receive PESD program services. The 392 individuals assigned to the control group received regular welfare services offered through the state and through the JOBS program. The study sample was predominantly female (99%) with an average age of 30 years old. The majority were Hispanic or Latino (68%), and had a high school degree or equivalent (87%). Using state administrative records, the authors conducted statistical models to compare employment, earnings, and public benefit receipt outcomes two years after program enrollment.
Findings
Employment
- The study found no significant differences in employment between the PESD program group and the control group.
Earnings and wages
- The study found no significant differences in earnings between the PESD program group and the control group.
Public Benefits Receipt
- The study found a significant difference in food stamp receipt between the PESD program group and the control group, where the control group was 4.1% more likely than the PSED program group to receive food stamps at the one year follow up. However, the study did not find any significant effects of the PESD program on the monthly dollar amount of food stamps received.
- The study did not find any significant effects of the PESD program on receipt of AFDC benefits, or the monthly dollar amount of AFDC benefits received.
Considerations for Interpreting the Findings
There were errors in the finding’s tables included in the study, where the number of observations for the treatment and control groups were transposed. We took this into consideration when calculating study attrition and used the sample size numbers that we believed accurately reflected the groups described elsewhere in the study and not those reported in the tables. Study authors also report a statistically significant effect between the PESD program and public benefit receipt. However, the study reports a less stringent statistical significance level, considering p-values of less than 0.10 to be significant, though it is standard practice to consider statistical significance if the p-value is less than 0.05. Only results that demonstrate a p-value of less than 0.05 are considered statistically significant in this profile.
Causal Evidence Rating
The quality of causal evidence presented in this report is high because it is based on a well-implemented randomized controlled trial. This means we are confident that the estimated effects are attributable to the Postemployment Services Demonstration (PESD) program, and not to other factors.