Although much is known about how to help welfare recipients find jobs, little is known about how to help them and other low-wage workers keep jobs or advance in the labor market. This report presents information on the effectiveness of a program in Chicago that aimed to help employed welfare recipients increase their earnings. The program was tested as part of the Employment Retention and Advancement Project (ERA), which is studying 15 programs across the country. The ERA project was conceived by the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; it is being conducted by MDRC under contract to ACF, with additional funding from the U.S. Department of Labor. The Chicago ERA program, which operated from February 2002 to June 2004, targeted recipients of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) cash assistance benefits who appeared to be stuck in low-paying jobs: individuals who worked at least 30 hours per week for at least six consecutive months but earned so little that they remained eligible for TANF benefits. The program, which was funded by the Illinois Department of Human Services (DHS) and operated under contract to DHS by Employment and Employer Services, sought to help participants advance in their current jobs or move to higher-paying jobs. The Chicago ERA program is being evaluated using a random assignment research design, whereby eligible individuals were assigned, through a lottery-like process, to one of two groups. Those assigned to the ERA group were recruited for the program and, if they remained on TANF, were required to participate. Those assigned to the control group were neither required nor permitted to participate in ERA, but they could obtain other services from DHS or other organizations. (author abstract)

Over the past decade, state and federal welfare policies have increasingly emphasized moving welfare recipients into jobs, and over this time period large numbers of recipients have gone to work. As welfare recipients enter the labor market they join other groups of disadvantaged and less-skilled workers seeking jobs, including ex-offenders, high-school drop-outs, less-educated young black men, and single mothers who are not receiving welfare. These workers all face similar challenges in the labor market: finding jobs that offer benefits and relatively high wages, retaining jobs once found, and finding opportunities for advancement. Most past research in this area has focused on the workers themselves—the supply side of the labor market—and what individual characteristics are associated with better jobs and advancement. This is only half the equation. Understanding the hiring practices, job requirements, and workplace policies of employers—the demand side—can provide considerable information to policy makers interested in promoting work and advancement among welfare recipients and other less-skilled workers. To this end, in 2007 the authors fielded a nationally representative survey of private-sector employers to provide information about employers’ practices and workplace policies relevant for less-skilled workers. They gathered information on employer characteristics, job requirements, wages and benefits, hiring practices, and potential for advancement. The survey focuses on employers’ most recently filled jobs that require no more education than a high school degree or GED; we refer to these jobs as non-college jobs. This group of jobs includes both entry-level jobs—-those requiring minimal skills and experience—-as well as “next-level” jobs—-non-college jobs demanding higher skill and experience and potentially offering higher wages and benefits. The rest of this Executive Summary outlines major findings and gives a brief discussion of the implications for policy. Exhibit E1 at the end of the Executive Summary is a chart of major findings. (author abstract)

This report presents implementation and two-year effectiveness results for the Reach for Success (RFS) program, operated by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services (DPSS). RFS offered individualized and flexible case management services to recipients of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) cash assistance benefits –– primarily, single mothers who were working at least 32 hours per week but earned too little to leave assistance. DPSS administrators designed RFS with the goal of helping individuals retain their employment and secure better jobs, and it sought to meet this goal by increasing the availability and improving the quality of case management services, relative to services offered as part of the agency’s existing post-employment services (PES) program. Participation in services in either program was voluntary. RFS operated from March 2002 to June 2005 in three regions in the county. RFS is one of 16 innovative models across the country being evaluated as part of the Employment Retention and Advancement (ERA) project under contract to the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, with additional funding from the U.S. Department of Labor. The evaluation of RFS uses a random assignment research design, whereby eligible individuals were assigned, through a lottery-like process, to one of two groups. Those assigned to the RFS group were actively recruited to participate in services and were offered personalized case management. Those assigned to the control group were eligible to request, on their own initiative, services from the county’s existing post-employment program. The report’s findings thus indicate whether Los Angeles’s new RFS program was more effective than its existing approach to providing post-employment services. (author abstract)

Considerable interest exists among state and local welfare departments, workforce investment agencies, community colleges, and other nonprofit community-based service providers to find ways to promote job retention and advancement among employed welfare recipients and other low-wage working families. Little is known, however, about what services are effective. The Employment Retention and Advancement (ERA) evaluation, designed to provide more information about what works in this area, is the largest and most comprehensive study of its kind. Conceived and sponsored by the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the evaluation is being conducted under contract by MDRC, a nonprofit, nonpartisan social policy research organization. The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has provided additional funding for the project. As of December 2002, a total of 15 ERA programs are being tested in 8 states. This report describes the initial experiences of those programs, focusing on implementation issues and institutional connections. (author abstract)

This report presents results from an evaluation of the Achieve program in Cleveland. Run by the organization Towards Employment, Achieve provided on-site services in the workplace to increase retention among low-wage workers. It is among 16 models being tested by MDRC in the national Employment Retention and Advancement (ERA) project under contract to the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), with additional support from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). A common challenge for programs providing retention and advancement services is the difficulty of engaging clients, whose work and family responsibilities often leave little time to visit program staff. The key idea behind Achieve’s employer-based model was to take the program to the workers, making it easier and more convenient for them to take advantage of services. The Achieve program consisted of on-site delivery of case management services, where staff met individually with clients to discuss a wide variety of issues, ranging from workplace and housing problems to transportation and child care; weekly information sessions covering such topics as time and stress management, goal-setting, budgeting, and credit repair; and trainings for the supervisors of low-wage workers. Achieve is being evaluated using a random assignment research design, in which 44 employers were randomly assigned to either a program group, eligible to receive Achieve’s services for their low-wage workers, or a control group, not eligible for these services. Because of traditionally high turnover rates in the long-term nursing care industry, Towards Employment recruited employers primarily from that sector. (author abstract)

As part of the Employment Retention and Advancement project, this issue brief is from MDRC and offers data from the study three years after its start. The Employment Retention and Advancement (ERA) project evaluated strategies to promote employment stability among low-income workers. After three years, one in four single parents had advanced. Single parents who advanced worked more consistently over the study period than other parents and, if unemployed, returned to work more quickly.

The Employment Retention and Advancement (ERA) project was designed to evaluate and analyze employment retention and advancement models from around the country, and identify key strategies to best support families. From the Administration for Children and Families, Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, this report summarizes 12 models of employment retention and advancement from the evaluation and key strategies employed by these programs to best serve their participants.