Study Details | Pathways to Work

3094.3094.05-South Carolina Emplo

Study quality: High

High

Reason for the rating: This study received a high study quality rating because it is a low-attrition randomized controlled trial with no known issues that suggest the findings cannot be attributed to the intervention.

Intervention: Moving Up—South Carolina

Population and employment barriers:

Parents (Single parents)

Services provided:

Case management, Employment retention services, Financial incentives, Health services (Substance use disorder treatment and mental health services), Supportive services, Training, Work readiness activities (Job development/job placement, Job search assistance)

Setting: Rural only

Study design

Design:

Randomized controlled trial

Study group formation:

In this randomized controlled trial, evaluators randomly assigned clients to the intervention group or to the comparison group. To be eligible for services, individuals must have left Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) in October 1997 through December 2000 and not returned. Each month from September 2001 through January 2003, evaluators placed 100 randomly selected individuals into each of the intervention and comparison groups through a lottery-like process. The evaluators assigned a total of 3,035 individuals. This study included 2,776 research sample members who had four years of follow-up data and were in single-parent families. The evaluation included a survey, for which researchers selected clients using a two-step process. First, researchers identified an eligible sample of 901 people who met the following criteria: randomly assigned between February and June 2002, at least 18 years old, and Spanish- or English-speaking. Then, they randomly selected a sample of 746 people to contact for the survey, which they call the fielded survey sample.

Time period of study:

2001 to 2007

Primary outcome domains examined:

Increase short-term earnings, Increase long-term earnings, Increase short-term employment, Increase long-term employment, Decrease short-term benefit receipt, Decrease long-term benefit receipt

Other outcome domains examined:

None

Study funded by:

The Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation in ACF at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services funded the study, with support from the U.S. Department of Labor.

Results

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Outcome domain	Measure	Timing	Study quality by finding	Comparison group mean	Intervention group mean	Impact	Units	Sample size
Increase short-term earnings	Annual earnings	Year 1	High	6,063.00	5,916.00	-147.00	2002 dollars	2,776
Increase short-term earnings	Weekly earnings	Month 12	High	155.00	160.00	5.00	2003 dollars	552
Increase long-term earnings	Annual earnings	Year 4	High	6,367.00	6,265.00	-102.00	2005 dollars	2,776
Increase short-term employment	Currently employed	Month 12	High	50.60	54.80	4.20	percentage points	552
Increase short-term employment	Employed for four consecutive quarters	Year 1	High	36.20	37.70	1.50	percentage points	2,776
Increase short-term employment	Ever employed, annual	Year 1	High	63.20	63.20	0.00	percentage points	2,776
Increase long-term employment	Employed for four consecutive quarters	Year 4	High	33.80	34.10	0.30	percentage points	2,776
Increase long-term employment	Ever employed, annual	Year 4	High	57.30	57.60	0.30	percentage points	2,776
Decrease short-term benefit receipt	Amount of AFDC/TANF benefits, annual	Year 1	High	65.00	71.00	6.00	2002 dollars	1,839
Decrease short-term benefit receipt	Amount of Food Stamp/SNAP benefits, annual	Year 1	High	1,838.00	1,820.00	-18.00	2002 dollars	1,839
Decrease short-term benefit receipt	Received AFDC/TANF, annual	Year 1	High	7.00	7.50	0.50	percentage points	2,776
Decrease short-term benefit receipt	Received food stamps/SNAP, annual	Year 1	High	61.50	62.50	1.00	percentage points	2,776
Decrease long-term benefit receipt	Average annual AFDC/TANF received, follow-up period	Years 1–4	High	67.00	74.00	7.00	2004 dollars	2,776
Decrease long-term benefit receipt	Average annual Food Stamp/SNAP benefits received, follow-up period	Years 1–4	High	1,982.00	1,973.00	-9.00	2004 dollars	2,776
Decrease long-term benefit receipt	Received AFDC/TANF, annual	Year 4	High	5.90	6.70	0.80	percentage points	2,776
Decrease long-term benefit receipt	Received food stamps/SNAP, annual	Year 4	High	58.50	59.20	0.70	percentage points	2,776

Short-term outcomes are those measured 18 months or fewer after participants are first offered services. Long-term outcomes are those measured between 18 months and 5 years after participants are first offered services. Very long-term outcomes are those measured 5 years or more after participants are first offered services.

Findings quality key:

High
Moderate

Study quality terms?

The findings quality describe our confidence that a given study’s finding is because of the intervention. We do not display findings that rate low.

Findings key:

A moderate-to-large favorable finding that is unlikely to be due to chance
A moderate-to-large favorable finding that might to be due to chance
A small favorable finding that is unlikely to be due to chance
A small favorable finding that might be due to chance
A favorable finding that is unlikely to be due to chance, but we cannot determine the standardized effect size
A favorable finding that might be due to chance, but we cannot determine the standardized effect size
A moderate-to-large unfavorable finding that is unlikely to be due to chance
A moderate-to-large unfavorable finding that might to be due to chance
A small unfavorable finding that is unlikely to be due to chance
A small unfavorable finding that might be due to chance
An unfavorable finding that is unlikely to be due to chance, but we cannot determine the standardized effect size
An unfavorable finding that might be due to chance, but we cannot determine the standardized effect size
A finding that is unlikely to be due to chance, but we cannot determine the standardized effect size or direction
A finding of no effect that might be due to chance

Favorable findings are impacts in a direction that is socially desirable. Statistical significance indicates the likelihood that a study finding is due to the intervention, rather than due to chance. Findings are described as moderate-to-large if the intervention produced a sufficiently large change in the outcome. An impact receives this designation if the standardized effect size is equal to or greater than 0.25 or equal to or less than -0.25.

Sample characteristics

People eligible for the study were single parents who had left TANF for any reason in October 1997 through December 2000 in the study counties, regardless of employment status at the time of random assignment, and had not returned to TANF since. All families examined in this report were single-parent families. At the time of random assignment, 98 percent of the 2,776 participants were female, and 81 percent were Black and non-Hispanic. On average, they were between 31 and 32 years old. About half (56 percent) had achieved at least a high school diploma or equivalent at baseline.

Age

Mean age

32 years

Sex

Female

98%

Participant race and ethnicity

Black or African American	79%
White, not Hispanic	20%
Another race	1%

The race and ethnicity categories may sum to more than 100 percent if the authors reported race and ethnicity separately; in these cases, we report the category White, rather than White, not Hispanic.

Family status

Parents	100%
Single parents	100%

Participant employment and public benefit status

Were employed	51%
Were eligible for or receiving cash assistance	0%

Participant education

Had a high school diploma or GED	56%
Did not have a high school diploma or GED	44%

Intervention implementation

Implementing organization:

South Carolina Department of Social Services (state TANF agency)

Program history:

The intervention was piloted with about 250 participants from June through August 2001 and fully launched in September 2001, when the evaluation began.

Intervention services:

The Moving Up program provided participants with individualized case management services. It provided pre- or post-employment services, depending on the employment status of program participants. Program activities included counseling on career goals and job readiness, job search assistance, short-term education or training, child care and transportation assistance, and mental health and other support services. Moving Up was optional; therefore, to promote engagement, it offered modest incentives, including cash rewards or gift certificates for reaching specific benchmarks (such as finding a job, holding a job, getting a promotion, completing education or training activities, and so forth).

Mandatory services:

None.

Comparison services:

People assigned to the comparison group could participate in other programs that were normally available and offered in the community.

Service receipt duration:

The random assignment took place in September 2001 through January 2003. Program services were provided from September 2001 through April 2005.

Intervention funding:

South Carolina Department of Social Services (TANF agency)

Study publications

Bloom, Dan, Richard Hendra, Karin Martinson, and Susan Scrivener (2005). The Employment Retention and Advancement project: Early results from four sites, Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Available at https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/opre/early_results.pdf.

Hendra, Richard, Keri-Nicole Dillman, Gayle Hamilton, Erika Lundquist, Karin Martinson, Melissa Wavelet, Aaron Hill, and Sonya Williams (2010). The Employment Retention and Advancement project: How effective are different approaches aiming to increase Employment Retention and Advancement? Final impacts for twelve models, Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Available at https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/opre/era_core.pdf.

Scrivener, Susan, Gilda Azurdia, and Jocelyn Page (2005). The Employment Retention and Advancement project: Results from the South Carolina ERA site, Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Available at https://www.mdrc.org/sites/default/files/full_542.pdf.

View the glossary for more information about these and other terms used on this page.

The Pathways Clearinghouse refers to interventions by the names used in study reports or manuscripts. Some intervention names may use language that is not consistent with our style guide, preferences, or the terminology we use to describe populations.

Study of Moving Up—South Carolina—Single parents