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http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/dsp01bc386m81g| Title: | Lessons Learned from Forty Years of Subsidized Employment Programs: A Framework, Review of Models, and Recommendations for Helping Disadvantaged Workers |
| Contributors: | Dutta-Gupta, Indivar Grant, Kali Eckel, Matthew Edelman, Peter |
| Keywords: | Public service employment Federal aid to public welfare—United States Labor policy Working class—United States Poor—United States |
| Issue Date: | 14-Apr-2016 |
| Publisher: | Georgetown University Law Center, Center on Poverty and Inequality |
| Place of Publication: | Washington, D.C. |
| Description: | Subsidized employment is a promising strategy for boosting incomes and improving labor market outcomes and well-being, especially for disadvantaged workers. This report represents findings from an extensive review of evaluated or promising subsidized employment programs and models spanning four decades that target populations with serious or multiple barriers to employment in the United States. It includes a framework aimed at helping practitioners develop more innovative and effective programs by identifying key elements of program design and implementation; a review of relevant models from the past 40 years, including key findings from this research; and a set of recommendations for policymakers and practitioners for further utilization of subsidized jobs programs. The goal of this paper is to promote subsidized employment policies and programs that are likely to increase quality opportunities for individuals with serious or multiple barriers to employment, during both economic expansions and contractions. The report examines several types of programs that address in an integrated way both labor supply and demand to directly increase paid work among disadvantaged workers. The main focus is on subsidized employment programs that offer subsidies to third-party employers—public, non-profit, or for-profit—who in turn provide jobs to eligible workers. As shown in the table below, subsidized employment programs are versatile tools that, depending on factors such as the timing of the business cycle and the target population, can be adapted accordingly. The employment they provide may be temporary and countercyclical, temporary and part of a strategy to help people shift to unsubsidized employment (regardless of the macroeconomic situation), or long-term for people who need long-lasting subsidies. The experiences offered by transitional (not long-term) subsidized jobs—in terms of what they expect of employees, how well employees are compensated, and the employment and labor rules the employers must follow—conform to or closely mimic competitive employment. This report focuses particularly on the second and third strategies, though the first strategy can provide important opportunities for disadvantaged workers, even if it is deployed more broadly. In addition, this report examines some notable paid work experience programs, which may provide some compensation for training or work activities, but do not necessarily involve third-party subsidies, and may not conform to typical experiences in competitive employment. The report also reviews selected community service models, which are often not intended to mimic competitive employment but instead provide opportunities for modest work activity and nominal stipends, where appropriate. Finally, the report profiles several unsubsidized employment programs, which do not offer funding for third-party employers, as well as intensive youth-only employment programs that provide relevant lessons for subsidized employment models. |
| URI: | http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/dsp01bc386m81g |
| Related resource: | https://www.law.georgetown.edu/academics/centers-institutes/poverty-inequality/current-projects/upload/GCPI-Subsidized-Employment-Paper-20160413.pdf |
| Appears in Collections: | Monographic reports and papers (Publicly Accessible) |
Files in This Item:
| File | Description | Size | Format | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GCPI-Subsidized-Employment-Paper-20160413.pdf | 1.79 MB | Adobe PDF | View/Download |
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