The struggle to sustain employment: The effectiveness of the Post-Employment Services Demonstration

The PESD evaluation had three main objectives: (1) to better understand and characterize the experiences of individuals after they become employed and to examine the factors contributing to job loss or job stability, (2) to examine the feasibility of providing services to newly employed welfare recipients and to study issues related to service delivery, and (3) to determine whether postemployment services can help individuals keep their jobs longer or regain employment more quickly after job loss. This report focuses on the third objective and provides an update of our initial findings of the programs’ effectiveness in promoting employment and reducing welfare dependency. In particular, this report examines the effectiveness of the PESD programs in increasing employment and reducing welfare dependency over a two-year period, using administrative records data on program enrollees. (author abstract)