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- Title
An Assessment of Supported Work for Youths.
- Authors
Long, David A.
- Abstract
This article assesses the impacts of Supported Work for youths, a transitional employment program in the U.S. for school dropouts and other disadvantaged groups operated between 1975 and 1981. An evaluation of the program indicated that its average impacts on youths were small. In this analysis a net present value (NPV) measure of program effectiveness is estimated at the individual level and then analyzed as a function of youth and program characteristics. This approach to analyzing program production will be applied to Supported Work for youths. The production of NPV in Supported Work was strongly affected by the characteristics of the youths it served. Consistent with the program's emphasis on closely supervised training with peer group support, most youth participants were assigned to crews of Supported Workers to work on projects supervised by program staff. This analysis of Supported Work suggests several conclusions that have implications for other social programs. First, the program was properly targeted on less employable individuals. Second, intensive and supportive work training appears to have been more effective for out-of-school youths than more traditional work experience assignments. Third, short-term performance indicators, which focus policy attention on a narrow set of immediate goals rather than longer-term net impacts, may have encouraged program performance that was not efficient.
- Subjects
UNITED States; YOUTH services; EMPLOYMENT of school dropouts; EMPLOYEE training; NET present value; SOCIAL services; APPRENTICES
- Publication
Journal of Human Resources, 1987, Vol 22, Issue 4, p551
- ISSN
0022-166X
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.2307/145698