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Project Description

Postemployment Services Demonstration uses a case management approach to help newly employed welfare recipients keep jobs, and find new jobs quickly if they lose them. Through extended case management, the programs provide four key services: counseling and support; job search assistance; help for resolving benefit issues; and temporary support services payments.

Project duration: Apr 1994 - Apr 1999

Sites studied include Chicago, Illinois
Portland, Oregon
Riverside, California
San Antonio, Texas

Sample Characteristics and Sites Studied

Nearly 5,000 welfare recipients who had just found work, enrolled over a 12-to-18 month period.

Random assignment of approximately 40% to program group (with access to PESD services) and the remaining 60% to a control group (with access to regular JOBS services).

Recent Findings in Brief

04/22/99: Postemployment Services Demonstration: The Struggle to Sustain Employment: The Effectiveness of the Postemployment Services Demonstration (Final Report)

Final Impact Findings:

Extensive outreach and rapid follow up enabled program case managers to reach most clients and establish prompt communication.

Service needs of clients vary, but PESD programs did not effectively target clients with different needs for different types or levels of services.

Overall levels of employment among sample members (in both the program and control groups) were fairly high in all four sites. Welfare receipt among sample members varied across the sites and reflected the high level of generosity of the welfare programs in each site.

Overall, the programs had little effect on increasing earnings, reducing welfare, or promoting the move toward self-sufficiency. Many control group members were able to maintain high levels of employment, partly due to strong economic conditions and partly because programs enrolled less disadvantaged individuals into the demonstration. Obtaining program impacts under such conditions can be difficult.

The program context and services available to control group members influenced the magnitude of estimated program impacts.

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