Study Details | Pathways to Work

24963.05-ETJD - Fort Worth

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: Next STEP (Subsidized Transitional Employment Program)

Population and employment barriers:

Specific employment barriers (Former incarceration)

Services provided:

Case management, Employment retention services, Financial incentives, Health services (Substance use disorder treatment and mental health services), Training (Occupational or sectoral training), Work and work-based learning (Subsidized employment, Transitional jobs), Work readiness activities (Job development/job placement, Job search assistance)

Setting: Urban only

Study design

Design:

Randomized controlled trial

Study group formation:

Newly released parolees in Tarrant County, TX, were given information and invited to an intake meeting at their mandatory new arrival orientation. Recently released people who were not subject to parole and who therefore were not required to attend the new arrival orientation also received invitation letters. People were eligible if they were age 18 or older, had been convicted of a crime as an adult under federal or state law, had not been convicted of a sex offense, had been released from prison in the past 120 days, were living in Tarrant County, were registered with Selective Service, and met at least two of several additional criteria. The additional criteria included the following: not having recent skilled employment, being long-term unemployed, being unable to return to their former profession, not having a high school diploma, having a high school diploma but reading below the ninth-grade level, being homeless, not having a right-to-work document, having a physical or mental limitation or disability, or not earning a credential or degree in the past five years in a high-demand occupation field. A total of 999 people were randomly assigned to either the intervention group (503) or the comparison group (496).

Time period of study:

Evaluators randomly assigned people into groups from November 2011 to December 2013. The study reports impacts up to 30 months after random assignment.

Primary outcome domains examined:

Increase short-term earnings, Increase long-term earnings, Increase short-term employment, Increase long-term employment, Decrease long-term benefit receipt, Increase education and training

Other outcome domains examined:

Criminal justice, Child support, Material hardship, Economic and personal well-being

Study funded by:

Employment and Training Administration in the U.S. Department of Labor and ACF

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	5,773.00	5,645.00	-128.00	2013 dollars	998
Increase long-term earnings	Annual earnings	Quarters 7-10	High	9,122.00	8,465.00	-657.00	2015 dollars	998
Increase short-term employment	Currently employed	Month 12	High	59.90	67.50	7.60	percentage points	685
Increase short-term employment	Employed for four consecutive quarters	Year 1	High	13.50	11.70	-1.80	percentage points	998
Increase short-term employment	Ever employed, quarterly	Quarter 5	High	45.90	46.10	0.20	percentage points	685
Increase long-term employment	Currently employed	Month 30	High	49.90	53.50	3.60	percentage points	765
Increase long-term employment	Employed for four consecutive quarters	Quarters 7-10	High	28.70	25.80	-2.90	percentage points	998
Increase long-term employment	Ever employed, annual	Quarters 7-10	High	60.70	57.50	-3.20	percentage points	998
Decrease long-term benefit receipt	Received food stamps/SNAP, monthly	Month 30	High	12.80	13.50	0.70	percentage points	765
Increase education and training	Earned OSHA or forklift certification	Year 1	High	9.60	9.30	-0.30	percentage points	686
Increase education and training	Earned professional license or certification (not including OSHA or forklift)	Year 1	High	9.80	20.90	11.10	percentage points	686
Increase education and training	Received high school diploma or GED	Year 1	High	5.00	2.90	-2.10	percentage points	686

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

The study examined formerly incarcerated people. Most people were male (90 percent) and Black (52 percent). Participants were, on average, 38 years old. At the time the study began, 9 percent were married, 35 percent were noncustodial parents, 16 percent were homeless, and 15 percent did not have a high school diploma.

Age

Mean age

38 years

Sex

Female	10%
Male	90%

Participant race and ethnicity

Black or African American	68%
White, not Hispanic	15%
Another race	1%
Hispanic or Latino of any race	15%

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

Married	9%
Noncustodial parents	35%

Participant education

Had some postsecondary education	3%
Had a high school diploma or GED	86%
Did not have a high school diploma or GED	15%

Specific employment barriers

Had a disability	5%
Were formerly incarcerated	100%
Were experiencing homelessness	16%
Were military veterans	5%

Intervention implementation

Implementing organization:

Workforce Solutions of Tarrant County (workforce development board)

Program history:

Next STEP (Subsidized Transitional Employment Program) was a new program funded by ETJD. Previously, Tarrant County had two similar programs: Project Re-Integration of Offenders and Tarrant County STEP, which both lost funding in 2011.

Intervention services:

The Next STEP program served formerly incarcerated people. Participants received 2 weeks of work-readiness training and then worked with a job developer to be placed in a private job with subsidized wages for 16 weeks (with a full subsidy for 8 weeks and a half subsidy for the subsequent 8 weeks). All employers agreed to retain the participant if they did well, and participants received continued job retention assistance. In addition to subsidized employment opportunities, participants had access to case management, mental health services, financial incentives, and legal assistance.

Mandatory services:

None.

Comparison services:

Comparison group members could not participate in Next STEP, but they could receive services from other providers, such as Texas ReEntry Services or another workforce center.

Service receipt duration:

The initial assessment and work-readiness workshops lasted 2 weeks. Participants' wages were subsidized for 16 weeks, and employers were expected to hire participants in good standing at the end of the subsidy. After beginning unsubsidized employment, participants received retention services quarterly for an unspecified duration.

Intervention funding:

Employment and Training Administration, U.S. Department of Labor

Cost information:

The average cost of providing the intervention was $10,189 per participant. The average cost of providing comparison group services was $1,150 per person. The net intervention cost, or difference between the two, was $9,039 per person. This represents how much more it cost to provide intervention services compared to comparison services.

These figures are based on cost information reported by study authors. The Pathways Clearinghouse converted that information to a single amount expressed in 2018 dollars; for details, see the FAQ. This information is not an official price tag or guarantee.

Study publications

Barden, Bret, Randall Juras, Cindy Redcross, Mary Farrell, and Dan Bloom (2018). New perspectives on creating jobs: Final impacts of the next generation of subsidized employment programs, 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/opre/resource/the-enhanced-transitional-jobs-demo-new-perspectives-creating-jobs-final-impacts-next-generation-subsidized-employment-programs.

Bloom, Dan (2015). Testing the next generation of subsidized employment programs: An introduction to the Subsidized and Transitional Employment Demonstration and the Enhanced Transitional Jobs Demonstration, OPRE Report #2015-58, 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/opre/resource/testing-next-gen-subsidized-employ-intro-enhanced-trans-jobs-demo.

Fink, Barbara (2018). Findings from in-depth interviews with participants in subsidized employment programs, OPRE Report #2018-120, 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/sted_topics_qualitative_508.pdf.

Redcross, Cindy, Bret Barden, and Dan Bloom (2016). The Enhanced Transitional Jobs Demonstration: Implementation and early impacts of the next generation of subsidized employment programs, 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/opre/resource/the-enhanced-transitional-jobs-demonstration-implementation-early-impacts-next-generation-subsidized-employment-programs.

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 Next STEP (Subsidized Transitional Employment Program)