Public Service/Subsidized Employment Programs

The need for direct public job creation efforts is greater today than at any time during the past seven decades. With a national unemployment rate that recently exceeded 10 percent, a new federal initiative that puts jobless individuals immediately to work must be a central element of any strategy for restoring economic growth and responding to pressing human needs in 2010 and beyond. Public service employment and transitional jobs programs offer tested and urgently needed models for combating the current recession and advancing longer-term workforce development goals.

"Green jobs" have garnered attention and support from many circles. This brief discusses strategies for improving access to green jobs for low-skill individuals, particularly jobs that can improve workers' economic standing and better support families. To understand where green jobs for low-skill individuals can be found, we review green industries and occupations and what they pay. Next we identify "good" green jobs that pay enough to support employees' families. Finally we discuss how training for green jobs can equip low-skill workers with needed skills, recommend how to improve these training efforts, and detail examples of innovative programs.

Low high school graduation rates and sharply declining employment rates continue to plague disadvantaged youth, especially young men. We review the evidence base on programs and policies such as youth development for adolescents and young teens; programs seeking to improve educational attainment and employment for in-school youth; and programs that try to "reconnect" those who are out of school and frequently out of work, including public employment programs. We identify a number of programmatic strategies that are promising or even proven, based on rigorous evaluations, for disadvantaged youth with different circumstances.

The need for direct public job creation efforts is greater today than at any time during the past seven decades. With a national unemployment rate that recently exceeded 10 percent, a new federal initiative that puts jobless individuals immediately to work must be a central element of any strategy for restoring economic growth and responding to pressing human needs in 2010 and beyond. Public service employment and transitional jobs programs offer tested and urgently needed models for combating the current recession and advancing longer-term workforce development goals.

Two welfare-to-work programs for hard-to-employ Temporary Assistance for Needy Families recipients are evaluated: a transitional-jobs model operated by the Transitional Work Corporation (TWC) and Success Through Employment Preparation (STEP), which addresses barriers to employment. TWC participants had significantly higher employment rates and earnings than the control group members, but the difference faded after the first year of follow-up. Moreover, earnings gains and welfare reductions largely offset one another. STEP program participants were not shown to work more, earn more, or receive less welfare than the control group.