The Los Angeles Jobs-First GAIN Evaluation: Final Report on a Work First Program in a Major Urban…

"This document summarizes the two-year findings from a large-scale, rigorous evaluation of Jobs-First GAIN, a strongly employment-focused mandatory welfare-to-work program. In a report on the Jobs-First GAIN Evaluation after one year of follow-up, it was con­cluded that Jobs-First GAIN produced substantial increases in employment and earnings and reductions in welfare expenditures relative to what welfare recipients would have achieved had they not entered the program. Furthermore, the program produced positive results for many different types of welfare recipi­ents. The report summarized here examines whether Jobs-First GAIN sustained these effects through a second year of follow-up. It then assesses the program’s two-year effects on a wide range of additional outcomes, including (1) employment stability and wage growth, (2) income and self- sufficiency, (3) medical coverage, (4) child care use, (5) household structure, (6) food insecurity, and (7) children’s academic and behavioral adjustment and safety. The report also examines Jobs-First GAIN’s cost-effectiveness" (p. ES-1). (Abstractor: Author and Website Staff) 

Full Publication Title: The Los Angeles Jobs-First GAIN Evaluation: Final Report on a Work First Program in a Major Urban Center

• "Los Angeles County successfully transformed its previous, basic-education focused welfare-to-work program into a Work First program…. Further, DPSS developed strong partnerships with outside service providers, in particular, with the Los Angeles County Office of Education, which designed and operated Jobs-First GAINs motivational orientation sessions and job clubs…. • During the two-year follow-up period, Jobs-First GAIN increased employment by 10 percentage points and earnings by an average of $1,627 (26 percent) relative to control group levels. • The program produced modest reductions in welfare and Food Stamp receipt and large reductions in welfare and Food Stamp payments. At the end of year 2, welfare receipt in the experimental group was 62 percent, 5 percentage points below the control group level. • Jobs-First GAIN produced a small net increase in total income in year 2; the results appear more positive for the last month of the year. • The program did not affect whether people had medical coverage, but did produce a shift from public to private insurers. About 90 percent of people in the control group reported receiving medical coverage for themselves and their children from Medi-Cal (California’s Medicaid program), from their employer, or from another source at the end of year 2. • There were few statistically significant impacts on indicators of health and well-being. • Jobs-First GAIN increased the use of child care and the incidence of child care problems that affected employment …. • Jobs-First GAIN achieved larger employment and earnings gains than the county’s previous, basic-education-focused program…. • The program boosted employment levels for members of two-parent families by 10 percentage points and increased their two-year earnings by an average of $2,050, or 31 percent, relative to control group levels…. • Jobs-First GAIN increased two-year earnings for both men and women in two-parent families, although the average earnings gain for men ($2,645) was nearly twice as large as that for women ($1,486). Whereas non-Hispanic whites did not experience a two-year earnings increase, Hispanics achieved an unusually large increase of $3,824, and Asians experienced a moderate gain of $1,429…. • Earnings increases were also larger for sample members who entered the program without a high school diploma or GED certificate than for graduates" (p. ES 2-5). (Abstractor: Author and Website Staff)

• Last Updated:
• Created:
• Resource Publication Date: 2000
• Author(s): Freedman, Stephen; Tansey Knab, Jean; Gennetian, Lisa A.; Navarro, David
• Organizational Author(s): Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation
• Funding Source: Los Angeles Department of Public Social Services, Ford Foundation, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
• Resource Availability: Publicly available
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• Posted in: Workforce System Strategies