Study Details | Pathways to Work

26629.02-Jobs Plus- Jobs Plus

Study quality: Low

Low

Reason for the rating: This study received a low study quality rating because it is a quasi-experimental design that does not demonstrate that the intervention and comparison groups were sufficiently similar before the intervention.

Intervention: NYC Jobs-Plus

Services provided:

Financial education, Soft skills training, Supportive services, Training, Work readiness activities (Job development/job placement, Job search assistance)

Study design

Design:

Quasi-experimental design

Study group formation:

Jobs-Plus providers targeted 18 public housing developments across New York City and focused on recruiting residents who "lacked meaningful connections to the labor market." Recruitment strategies included hiring community coaches from within the developments to help with recruitment, utilizing social media, word of mouth, referral prizes, and community events. Although most participants lived in the targeted developments, some did not live in public housing or lived in a non-targeted development. This study focused on effects of living in a targeted development. To assess these effects, researchers compared earnings and employment outcomes of all working-age, nondisabled people who were officially living (on-lease) in targeted developments when Jobs-Plus was first implemented to outcomes of working-age, nondisabled individuals who were on-lease residents in a set of comparison public housing developments at the same time. To select the comparison developments the study team matched each targeted housing development to 2 to 4 non-target public housing developments that were similar with regards to structure (including mixed-income status); resident characteristics (including proportion of working-age nondisabled adults race, ethnicity, and average annual household income); and neighborhood characteristics.

Time period of study:

This study focuses on Jobs-Plus sites that began operating in the third quarter of 2013. The evaluation tracks earnings and employment through 2016.

Pathways only reports results from studies with a study quality rating of high or moderate.

Sample characteristics

Sex

Female	66%
Male	34%

Participant race and ethnicity

Black or African American	54%
White, not Hispanic	4%
Asian	6%
Another race	1%
Hispanic or Latino of any race	35%

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.

Specific employment barriers

Had a disability

20%

Intervention implementation

Implementing organization:

The NYC Human Resources Administration contracted with community-based organizations to provide Jobs-Plus services. The NYC public housing authority (NYCHA) implemented the Earned Income Disallowance and activities to promote community support for work. The NYC Office of Financial Empowerment oversaw the financial counseling.

Intervention services:

Jobs-Plus primarily served residents of one of 18 public housing developments in New York City and focused on individuals with minimal connection to the labor market. Jobs-Plus members received employment-related services including job search assistance, job placement support, work readiness activities, soft skills training, and supportive services. Members also received financial counseling and assistance applying for Earned Income Disallowance benefits to avoid increases in rent based on increases in earnings. Jobs-Plus also included activities intended to strengthen community and community support for work within the target public housing developments. This study examines the effects of living in one of the 18 targeted public housing developments. Therefore, the intervention group includes all on-lease residents of the 18 targeted developments—including those that did and did not enroll in Jobs-Plus.

Mandatory services:

None

Comparison services:

Comparison group members were on-lease residents in about 36 public housing developments that did not offer Jobs-Plus. Although Jobs-Plus was intended to be exclusively for residents of the targeted developments, the program did serve individuals not in public housing and those outside the targeted developments. Thus, comparison group members could have accessed Jobs-Plus.

Study publications

Leopold, Josh, Theresa Anderson, Marla McDaniel, Christopher Hayes, Sade Adeeyo, and Rob Pitingolo. (2019). Helping public housing residents find jobs and build careers: Evaluation findings from New York City’s Jobs-Plus Expansion. Washington, DC: Urban Institute, September 2019. Available at https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/publication/100991/helping_public_housing_residents_find_jobs_and_careers.pdf

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Study of New York City (NYC) Jobs Plus—Development effects