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Sectoral Employment Research
Sectoral employment programs target specific local industries. They aim to improve job opportunities for their program participants and, by fostering changes within a given industry, for other low-income job seekers as well. Since the late 1990s, P/PV has embarked on a number of projects to test the potential of this approach:
Sectoral Employment Initiative
P/PV's Sectoral Employment Initiative evaluated and provided technical assistance to a nine-site, three-year demonstration of sectoral employment programs. Findings from the initiative were compiled in five reports, including the final report Targeting Industries, Training Workers and Improving Opportunities. All are available for free download below.
Sectoral Employment Impact Study (SEIS)
In 2002, based on preliminary results from the Sectoral Employment Initiative, P/PV launched SEIS, a more rigorous evaluation of sectoral programs that used a random assignment design. SEIS organizations include: Jewish Vocational Services in Boston, MA; Per Scholas in New York, NY; and the Wisconsin Regional Training Partnership in Milwaukee, WI. The three sites enrolled participants in treatment and control groups over a two-year period, with study participants completing baseline and follow-up surveys that collected data on issues of employment, job retention, wage levels and earnings potential. Tuning In to Local Labor Markets, published in July 2010, details the impacts found for participants, including increases in earnings and employment, and outlines five key ingredients identified as important to these programs' success.
SEIS Briefing
On April 30, 2009, P/PV researchers were joined by representatives from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, National Skills Coalition and the three sites that participated in SEIS to share the study's exciting initial findings at a briefing in the Russell Senate Office Building in Washington, DC. For more information about the briefing, click here.
SEIS Harvard Event
Longtime P/PV Board Member William Julius Wilson hosted an event at Harvard University on June 3, 2010, to discuss the results of the Sectoral Employment Impact Study (see Tuning In to Local Labor Markets below). P/PV Vice President for Labor Market Initiatives Sheila Maguire presented the reports findings; P/PV President Nadya K. Shmavonian facilitated a conversation with prominent academics and workforce development funders about its implications for the field. Attendees included:
- Burt Barnow, Johns Hopkins University
- Gordon Berlin, MDRC
- Hector Cordero-Guzman, Ford Foundation
- John Foster-Bey, CSR, Inc.
- Bob Giloth, Annie E. Casey Foundation
- Harry Holzer, Georgetown University/The Urban Institute
- Christopher King, University of Texas at Austin
- Robert LaLonde, University of Chicago
- Jack Litzenberg, Charles Stewart Mott Foundation
- Marion Pines, Johns Hopkins University
- Jim Quane, John F. Kennedy School of Government,
Harvard University
- Whitney Smith, The Joyce Foundation
- Cay Stratton, MDC, Inc.
- Andy Van Kleunen, National Skills Coalition
- William Julius Wilson, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University
- Christopher Winship, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University
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PUBLICATIONS
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Tuning In to Local Labor Markets: Findings From the Sectoral Employment Impact Study
by Sheila Maguire, Joshua Freely, Carol Clymer, Maureen Conway and Deena Schwartz
July 2010,
78 pages
Over the past two decades, an innovative approach to workforce development known as sectoral employment has emerged, resulting in the creation of industry-specific training programs that prepare unemployed and underskilled workers for skilled positions and connect them with employers seeking to fill such vacancies. In 2003, with funding from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, P/PV launched the Sectoral Employment Impact Study to rigorously assess whether mature, nonprofit-led sector-focused programs could increase the earnings of disadvantaged workers and job seekers. P/PV selected three organizations to participate in the study—a community-based organization focused on medical and basic office skills in Boston, a social venture focused on information technology in the Bronx, and an employer-union partnership focused on healthcare, manufacturing and construction in Milwaukee.
The study's findings show that program participants earned about $4,500—18 percent—more than the control group over the course of the two-year study period and $4,000—29 percent—more in the second year alone. Study participants were also more likely to find employment, work more consistently, work in jobs that paid higher wages, and work in jobs that offered benefits. Furthermore, there were earnings gains for each subgroup analyzed, including African Americans, Latinos, immigrants, formerly incarcerated individuals and young adults.
Tuning In to Local Labor Markets also examines the strategies employed by the three organizations that took part in the study, as well as the common elements that likely contributed to their success. Implications for practice, policy and future research are explored; a forthcoming piece will provide detailed recommendations for policymakers.
To read the accompanying executive summary, click here. To read a letter from P/PV President Nadya K. Shmavonian about the significance of the study, click here.
free download
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Tuning In to Local Labor Markets: Findings From the Sectoral Employment Impact Study, Executive Summary
by Sheila Maguire, Joshua Freely, Carol Clymer, Maureen Conway and Deena Schwartz
July 2010,
8 pages
This executive summary highlights the main findings and conclusions from Tuning In to Local Labor Markets: Findings From the Sectoral Employment Impact Study—the first random assignment evaluation of sector-focused training efforts. We studied three nonprofit organizations—a community-based organization focused on medical and basic office skills in Boston, a social venture focused on information technology in the Bronx, and an employer-union partnership focused on healthcare, manufacturing and construction in Milwaukee—and found that participants in these programs worked more, had higher earnings and found better jobs (as measured by hourly wages and access to benefits) than members of the control group.
The executive summary examines strategies used by the three organizations in the study, describes the people served, and outlines common elements that likely contributed to the programs success.
To read a letter from P/PV President Nadya K. Shmavonian about the significance of the study, click here.
free download
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Job Training That Works: Findings from the Sectoral Employment Impact Study
by Sheila Maguire, Joshua Freely, Carol Clymer and Maureen Conway
May 2009,
11 pages
Public funding for employment and training has dwindled over the past several decades. Yet in communities all over the United States, there has been considerable development of alternative approaches to help low-income people gain skills for particular industry sectors. In 2003, with support from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, P/PV launched the Sectoral Employment Impact Study to test the efficacy of one such approach. Using a random-assignment design, P/PV researchers set out to answer the question: Can well-implemented, sector-focused training programs make a difference to the earnings of low-income disadvantaged workers and job seekers? Three organizations were selected to participate in the study: Jewish Vocational Service in Boston, Per Scholas in the Bronx and the Wisconsin Regional Training Partnership in Milwaukee. This issue of P/PV In Brief summarizes impacts found for participants across the three sites, including increases in earnings and employment; a more detailed report on the study can be found here.
Hard Copy Price: $1.00
order online
free download
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Targeting Industries, Training Workers and Improving Opportunities: The Final Report from the Sectoral Employment Initiative
by Anne Roder with Carol Clymer and Laura Wyckoff
November 2008,
68 pages
Over the past 30 years, American workers have faced daunting challenges, including declines in real wages and dwindling upward mobility. Paths to advance within companies have deteriorated, leaving many low-skilled workers "stuck" indefinitely in low-wage jobs—and swelling the ranks of the working poor. As opportunities for less-educated workers to access well-paying jobs grow scarce, it is clear that our nation requires new approaches to workforce development.
In a departure from traditional strategies, some workforce organizations have begun to implement services and activities that focus on the needs of specific industry sectors. By identifying local sectors that lack workers—which might range from healthcare to manufacturing to construction—these organizations can help low-income workers acquire the specific skills they need to fill available positions. To explore the potential of this approach, P/PV launched the Sectoral Employment Initiative (SEI) in 1998, with support from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. This final report relies on data gathered during interviews with staff members at the SEI organizations and other key players in the targeted sectors, site visits, reviews of program documentation, and baseline and follow-up interviews with program participants focusing on a range of outcomes, including employment, earnings, education, housing and household income. The report presents key findings and explores some of the challenges sectoral programs encountered.
Hard Copy Price: $5.00
order online
free download
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Targeting Industries, Training Workers and Improving Opportunities: The Final Report from the Sectoral Employment Initiative Executive Summary
by Anne Roder with Carol Clymer and Laura Wyckoff
November 2008,
10 pages
This executive summary provides a brief look at the key findings and challenges sectoral programs encountered while participating in the Sectoral Employment Initiative. By identifying local sectors that lack workers—which might range from health care to manufacturing to construction—these organizations were shown, in many cases, to help low-income workers acquire the specific skills they need to fill available positions.
Hard Copy Price: $5.00
order online
free download
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Investing in Low-Wage Workers: Lessons from Family Child Care in Rhode Island
by Anne Roder and Dorie Seavey
September 2006,
48 pages
While childcare is one of the fastest growing occupations in the country, most employment in this field is precarious and low-wage. Investing in Low-Wage Workers profiles the Day Care Justice Co-op, a group of largely Latina and African American women living and working in some of Rhode Island's poorest communities. Determined to improve family childcare, the group sought better wages and benefits for family childcare workers across the state and developed important resources for its members. During the study period, P/PV found a dramatic reduction in poverty among Co-op members—from 44 to 15 percent. The Co-op was supported by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundations Sectoral Employment Initiative. Launched in 1998, the Initiative attempted to improve opportunities in selected workplace sectors for low-wage workers to achieve financial security.
Hard Copy Price: $5.00
order online
free download
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Policy Brief: Investing in Child Care Brings Gains for Providers and Children
September 2006,
5 pages
This brief incorporates findings from the P/PV report Investing in Low-Wage Workers: Lessons from Family Child Care in Rhode Island; it also relies on interviews with advocates and providers in Rhode Island, as well as experts around the country. The brief argues that investments in family childcare providers reaped big rewards in Rhode Island—for providers and, by extension, the children they serve. Increases in reimbursement rates boosted the availability of subsidized childcare, raised average incomes in the field and lifted many workers out of poverty. Other states may benefit from an examination of the Rhode Island experience, as they consider strategies to improve family day care (and other employment sectors).
An abbreviated (two-page) executive summary is available here or to view the full five-page brief, click here.
free download
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Gearing Up: An Interim Report on the Sectoral Employment Initiative
by Mark Elliott, Anne Roder, Elisabeth King and Joseph Stillman
September 2001,
32 pages
Gearing Up is the first P/PV report on the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation's Sectoral Employment Initiative. It provides information about the various strategies being pursued, who is participating, and the sites' successes and struggles through the initiative's first two years. The report concludes with observations on those factors that appear critical to participating organizations' attaining their goals.
Hard Copy Price: $5.00
free download
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Labor Market Leverage: Sectoral Employment Field Report
by Mark Elliott and Elisabeth King
December 1999,
34 pages
Rapid economic change over the past 25 years has dramatically altered the character and performance of the labor market, making it increasingly difficult for workers, particularly those with low skills, to find jobs and careers that will enable them to attain a decent standard of living. A few workforce development programs are seeking to overcome this challenge by developing sectoral employment strategies that seek to alter the labor market in a targeted occupation to the benefit of all low-income workers in that sector, not just their own program participants. This report discusses the key elements of a sectoral employment strategy and highlights the experiences of thirteen seasoned workforce programs implementing such sectoral strategies as business development, job training, organizing, and research and policy analysis.
Hard Copy Price: $5.00
order online
free download
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