Pursuing Economic Security for Young Adults: Five-Year Impacts of Pre-Employment Services in the National Evaluation of Welfare-to-Work Strategies

Drawing from administrative records and survey data collected for the National Evaluation of Welfare-to-Work Strategies (NEWWS) during the 1990s, this report extends MDRC's research on whether mandatory employment-focused and education-focused welfare-to-work programs help people find jobs, attain stable employment, and earn more over time. The focus is on a subgroup that accounts for nearly 20 percent of the full NEWWS sample: single parents who were age 20 to 24 when they entered the study. Based on a rigorous random assignment design, the report finds that both types of programs led to higher earnings by young adults over a five-year follow-up period, and -- for young adults who lacked educational credentials -- education-focused programs also led to a relatively large impact on receipt of a GED. However, not all education-focused programs succeeded for this subgroup.