Subsidized and Transitional Employment Demonstration (STED)

Explore the effects on earnings —the changes in participants’ outcomes —over a follow-up period of up to eight years for seven programs included in the Subsidized and Transitional Employment Demonstration.

Explore the COVID-19-era employment, earnings, and UI benefit receipt of 8,800 participants in the Subsidized and Transitional Employment Demonstration (STED).

Explore OPRE research on Earned Income Tax Credits for low-income workers without dependent children.

Employment and wages have been rising over the last several years of the recovery from the Great Recession that ended in 2009. But the recent wage increases are not enough to offset decades of stagnating or even falling wages for many groups of low-wage U.S. workers. A central policy question is how to ensure that economic growth is shared more widely and that people who work are not poor. The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is one option...

Even in a strong economy, some job seekers struggle to find and keep jobs. These individuals often have limited work experience, few educational credentials and job skills, and other characteristics such as criminal records or primary caretaking responsibilities that make it difficult for them to compete in the labor market. For decades, government entities, private foundations, and nonprofit organizations have developed programs to help disadvantaged job seekers...

STEP Forward was a voluntary program in San Francisco that aimed to connect low-income job seekers to the labor market by using public funds to temporarily subsidize individuals’ wages, known as subsidized employment, with the goal of ultimately increasing permanent unsubsidized employment among this population. The program was operated by the Human Services Agency of San Francisco (HSA) under the umbrella of JOBsNOW!, HSA’s broader subsidized employment initiative...

The Minnesota Subsidized and Transitional Employment Demonstration (MSTED) is testing the effectiveness of subsidized employment for individuals enrolled in the Minnesota Family Investment Program (MFIP), Minnesota’s Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, who were unable to find employment after participating in the state’s existing welfare- to-work program. MFIP employment counselors, who work with adults expected to meet the federal work activity requirements...

This report presents findings from a feasibility evaluation of the Bridges to Pathways (Bridges) program. Bridges was a program for young men in Chicago between the ages of 17 and 21 years who were involved with the criminal or juvenile justice system and lacked a high school credential. The program offered intensive mentoring and case management, as well as the opportunity to earn a high school credential, attend social-emotional learning workshops, and participate in a subsidized internship...

Securing employment in a competitive labor market can be difficult for job seekers with limited education or work experience, especially if they are single parents or caring for young children. Some public assistance programs — Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs, for example...

Recipients of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) often face barriers such as limited education and work experience, health issues including substance abuse problems, and other obstacles that stand in the way of finding employment. In an effort to help these individuals gain work experience, boost their earnings, and eventually...

Subsidized employment and transitional jobs programs seek to increase employment and earnings among individuals who have not been able to find employment on their own. First-hand accounts of participants’ experiences in these programs can inform efforts to improve long-term employment outcomes for various “hard-to-employ” populations.

This study is part of two federally funded multisite projects — the Department of Labor’s Enhanced Transitional Jobs Demonstration (ETJD) and the Department of Health and Human Services’ Subsidized and Transitional Employment Demonstration (STED) — testing various subsidized employment models. These programs targeted a variety of disadvantaged populations, including welfare recipients, people returning to the community from prison, and low-income parents who do not have custody of their children (“noncustodial” parents, usually fathers) and who owe child support. The projects tested programs that enhanced the subsidized job model with case management and other support services, job-readiness training, and job search assistance intended to help participants move into unsubsidized employment.

This report presents the final impacts from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Enhanced Transitional Jobs Demonstration (ETJD), which included two sites that are part of ACF’s Subsidized and Transitional Employment Demonstration (STED). ETJD tested seven transitional jobs programs that targeted people recently released from prison or unemployed parents who did not have custody of their children. The ETJD programs were “enhanced” in various ways to address the shortcomings of previous programs. Two of the ETJD grantees which served non-custodial parents, Atlanta and San Francisco, were evaluated as part of the STED study. The two evaluations — STED and ETJD — closely coordinated beyond the shared sites, including shared reports, common data collection instruments, and other ongoing collaboration.

People served by public assistance programs such as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) often have difficulty finding jobs in the competitive labor market. This report describes the ways in which eight TANF...

This report presents 30-month impact results from a random assignment evaluation of the Young Adult Internship Program (YAIP), a subsidized employment program for young people in New York City who have become disconnected from school and work. Operated by various provider agencies, YAIP offers disconnected young people...

Programs designed to help disadvantaged workers improve their labor-market prospects may have effects beyond improvements in employment rates and income. One possible supplementary effect is improvements in subjective well-being, or how participants feel about their current life situations. Subjective well-being is important...

Securing unsubsidized employment in a competitive labor market can be difficult for low-income job seekers in an economy that is increasingly driven by highly skilled technical and professional employment. This is particularly the case in San Francisco...

This report presents implementation and early impact results from a random assignment evaluation of the Young Adult Internship Program (YAIP), a subsidized employment program for young people in New York City who have become disconnected from school and work. Operated by various provider agencies, YAIP offers disconnected youth between the ages of 16 and 24 a temporary paid internship, as well as various support services...

This report presents interim impact and implementation findings of seven transitional jobs programs from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Enhanced Transitional Jobs Demonstration. Two of the sites in that study — in Atlanta and San Francisco — are also a part of ACF’s Subsidized and Transitional Employment Demonstration. The two studies closely coordinated beyond the shared sites, including shared reports, common data collection instruments, and other ongoing collaboration...

This report presents implementation findings and early impact results -- one year -- from a random assignment evaluation of subsidized employment for TANF recipients in Los Angeles County. The study examines the impact of two distinct approaches to subsidized employment. This test is part of ACF’s Subsidized and Transitional Employment Demonstration...

Launched in 2010, the Subsidized and Transitional Employment Demonstration evaluation from the Department of Health and Human Services and the Enhanced Transitional Jobs Demonstration evaluation from the Department of Labor are studying 13 subsidized employment programs in 10 locations across the United States. The programs encompass three broad categories: Modified Transitional Jobs Models, Wage Subsidy Models, and Hybrid Models.

The goal of these complementary large-scale projects...

Subsidized employment programs provide jobs to people who cannot find employment in the regular labor market and…