Citation
Schochet, P. (1998). National Job Corps Study: Characteristics of youths served by Job Corps. Princeton, NJ: Mathematica Policy Research.
Highlights
- One of a series of reports emanating from the National Job Corps Study, a random assignment evaluation of the Job Corps program, this report describes the characteristics of eligible Job Corps applicants and compares them with the broader national population of disadvantaged youth. The Job Corps program offers intensive academic classroom instruction and vocational skills training, along with support services, to economically disadvantaged youth.
- The authors examined data collected as part of the National Job Corps Study on the characteristics of eligible youth. The study collected data through an interview at the time of random assignment and through surveys administered 12, 30 and 48 months after it. The findings in this report are based on the data collected through baseline interviews.
- The authors reported that, as intended, Job Corps served disadvantaged youth, most of whom had not completed high school (about 80 percent). Eligible applicants tended to be male (about 60 percent) and members of racial or ethnic minority groups (about 70 percent; 50 percent African American). More than a quarter of applicants had been arrested before applying to Job Corps. Female applicants tended to be older, more likely to have children and to have completed high school, and less likely to admit drug use or arrests than male applicants.
- Compared with the broader national population of disadvantaged youth, eligible Job Corps applicants were more likely to be 16- or 17-year-old African American males from large urban areas who were high school dropouts.
Intervention Examined
Job Corps
Reviewed by CLEAR
April 2014