Citation
Miller, C., Tessler B. L., & Van Dok, M. (2012). Strategies to help low-wage workers advance: Implementation and final impacts of the Work Advancement and Support Center (WASC) demonstration. New York: MDRC. [Academy for Career Advancement—Bridgeport]
Highlights
- The study’s objective was to examine the impact of participation in the Academy for Career Advancement—Bridgeport, a Work Advancement and Support Center (WASC) on participants’ earnings, employment, educational attainment, and benefit receipt.
- This study was a randomized controlled trial and used administrative data from the Department of Labor, the Department of Social Services in Connecticut, and the National Student Clearinghouse to measure outcomes. The authors also used a 12-month follow-up survey with a random subset of participants to measure receipt of work supports and job characteristics.
- The study found that members of the treatment group were 3.9 percentage points less likely than the control group to have ever been employed in a Unemployment Insurance-covered job one year after the program began, and that members of the treatment group were 8.9 percentage points more likely to obtain a license or certificate one year after the program began than members of the control group.
- 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 Academy for Career Advancement—Bridgeport and not to other factors.
Intervention Examined
Work Advancement and Support Center Demonstration, Academy for Career Advancement—Bridgeport
Features of the Intervention
The WASC program delivered integrated, intensive retention and advancement services and simplified access to financial work supports for low-wage workers to help them increase their incomes. A One-Stop Career Center, where workforce development and welfare staff worked together in the same unit as a team, offered both types of services at one location. Advancement services included career coaching, skill development, and education to stabilize participants’ employment and help them find better-paying jobs. Key work supports included Food Stamps and health insurance for adults and children. The WASC model in Bridgeport, Connecticut focused mostly on providing access to and funding for vocational training. Bridgeport’s program offered access to work supports through a designated work support specialist. Eligible study participants earned less than $10 per hour, had a household income below 130 percent of the federal poverty level, and had a limited previous connection to the welfare system.
Features of the Study
The authors used a lottery-like process to randomly assign participants to the WASC group or to a control group. The control group received existing employment services with a focus on job placement instead of advancement for low-wage workers. The research sample size was 705; there were 351 people in the WASC group and 354 people in the control group. The authors used a statistical model to compare the outcomes of treatment and control group members.
Study Sites
WASC was implemented in three locations (Dayton, Ohio; Bridgeport, Connecticut; and San Diego, California), and this review examines results for Bridgeport. Other reviews on this site focus on the other locations.
Findings
- The study found that members of the treatment group who participated in Academy for Career Advancement—Bridgeport were 3.9 percentage points less likely than the control group to have ever been employed in an Unemployment Insurance-covered job one year after the program began (92.4 percent compared with 96.2 percent).
- Members of the treatment group were 8.9 percentage points more likely to obtain a license or certificate than members of the control group (21.7 percent compared with 12.8 percent).
Considerations for Interpreting the Findings
The authors estimated multiple related impacts on outcomes related to short-term employment and training, and education. Performing multiple statistical tests on related outcomes makes it more likely that some impacts will be found statistically significant purely by chance and not because they reflect program effectiveness. The authors did not perform statistical adjustments to account for the multiple tests, so the number of statistically significant findings in these domains is likely to be overstated.
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 Academy for Career Advancement—Bridgeport and not to other factors.