The Employment Retention and Advancement Project: A Comparison of Two Job Club Strategies...

"This report presents implementation and six-quarter impact results for the Los Angeles Enhanced Job Club (EJC) study, which is examining whether five-week job clubs (facilitated group job search activities) that aim to place single-parent welfare applicants and recipients into jobs more in line with their careers of interest can result in greater job retention and advancement, compared with three-week job clubs that focus on placing individuals quickly into any type of job...The study compares the effectiveness of two types of job club workshops for unemployed Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) applicants and recipients who were in the Greater Avenues for Independence (GAIN) program — California’s mandatory welfare-to-work program — in Los Angeles County. The Enhanced Job Club (EJC) model focuses on career development activities and targeted job search, and it is compared with the TJC model. The EJC study thus provides valuable findings regarding whether there is an optimal way to use job search workshops to help unemployed welfare recipients find jobs that they can retain and use as a springboard for advancement" (p. ES-1) (Abstractor: Author)

 Full publication title: The Employment Retention and Advancement Project: A Comparison of Two Job Club Strategies: The Effects of Enhanced Versus Traditional Job Clubs in Los Angeles

• "EJC and TJC staff conveyed distinctly different messages about the types of jobs individuals shouldseek, but the overall message later recalled by single parents in both research groups was a similar one: that they should quickly find a job" (p.iii). • "The EJC model, compared with the TJC model, did not increase employment retention or advancement" (p.iii). • "The EJC model, compared with the TJC model, did not affect public assistance receipt or income levels over the follow-up period" (p.ES-9) (Abstractor: Author)

• Last Updated:
• Created:
• Resource Publication Date: 2008
• Author(s): Navarro, David; Azurdia, Gilda; Hamilton, Gayle
• Organizational Author(s): MDRC
• Funding Source: Administration for Children and Families (ACF), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
• Resource Availability: Publicly available
• Posted by: Wesley Peterson
• Posted in: Workforce System Strategies