By DUANE M. ELLING
As the U.S. economy struggles toward recovery, a Mott-funded study is bullish on the potential of high quality sectoral job training programs to help workers and employers build the country’s fiscal future.
The preliminary findings and public policy implications of the Sectoral Employment Impact Study (SEIS) were highlighted at an April 30 briefing with federal policymakers in Washington DC. This rigorous, random assignment evaluation of sectoral strategies is the first of its kind.
The sectoral model focuses on helping workers, including those from underserved communities, develop the skills needed to succeed in a particular industry or “sector,” and gain access to jobs within those trades.
While analysis of SEIS data is still underway, some intriguing findings have emerged:
- Roughly two years after completing their sectoral training, participants were more likely to be employed and to be working more months than their control group counterparts.
- Members of this group, on average, worked more hours each month, received a higher hourly wage and earned about $4,500 per year more than those in the control group.
- Participants who received the training were also more likely to obtain jobs that offered work-related benefits, such as employer-paid health insurance, vacation and sick leave.
Sheila Maguire, vice president for Labor Market Initiatives at
Public/Private Ventures (P/PV), which conducted the study, notes that early findings from the SEIS also suggest that the sectoral strategy, by preparing treatment group participants to “hit the ground running” in a given line of work, offers important benefits to U.S. employers.
“Sectoral employment programs are exciting because of their potential to help not only workers, but also industries that are facing critical skills gaps,” such as healthcare, advanced manufacturing and environmental or “green” industries, Maguire said. “As the economy recovers, there is only going to be more demand for workers skilled in these areas.”
A
preliminary summary of the SEIS findings and policy recommendations, entitled
Job Training That Works: Findings from the Sectoral Employment Impact Study, is now available at
www.ppv.org.
The two-year, random assignment SEIS examined the labor market outcomes of 1,200 low-income, low-skilled adults. Roughly half were assigned to a group that received services from one of three sectoral programs: Jewish Vocational Service in Boston; Per Scholas in the Bronx, New York; and Wisconsin Regional Training Partnership in Milwaukee. The remaining control group participants did not receive sectoral-based services, but could pursue other job training opportunities.
The SEIS findings have “huge policy implications,” says William Julius Wilson, professor of sociology and social policy at Harvard University.
“Here is a study that not only associates high quality, industry-specific job training with improved chances of finding employment, but also with substantial increases in earnings,” said Wilson. “It is rare to see an evaluation with such robust and convincing findings.”
The importance of public investment in high quality sectoral programs that integrate supports for low-income, low-skilled workers, and that focus on long-term results, including wage growth and career advancement, is key to continued policy debates about workforce development strategies, say advocates.
Many also suggest that an industry-focused approach be incorporated into the country’s broader range of workforce development strategies. And they note that employment training programs, including sectoral, must be connected to public policies that support job creation.
The SEIS was launched in 2003 by P/PV, a national research and policy organization with offices in Philadelphia, New York and Oakland, California. The Workforce Strategies Initiative, a program of the Washington, D.C.-based Aspen Institute, assisted with the study.
The concept of sectoral job training was formally identified and defined in a 1995 report, authored by Aspen and funded by Mott, entitled
Jobs and the Urban Poor.
A detailed final report on the SEIS is expected in the last quarter of 2009.
Mott funding for sectoral-related demonstrations, networks and evaluations -- including the SEIS -- has totaled nearly $87-million since 1978.