Training and Customer Choice

"The Effects of Customer Choice: First Findings from the Individual Training Account Experiment." Irma Perez Johnson, Sheena McConnell, Paul Decker, and Jeanne Bellotti (Mathematica); Jeffrey Salzman and Jessica Pearlman (Social Policy Research Associates), December 2004. This report presents early findings from the evaluation of the ITA experiment, which aims to provide federal, state, and local policymakers with information on the effectiveness of, and trade-offs inherent in, three different approaches to managing customer choice in Workforce Investment Act training programs. The approaches vary in (1) how a customer's spending is determined, (2) whether counseling is required or voluntary, and (3) how much local staff can restrict training choices. The approaches implemented had an influence on receipt of counseling and likelihood of receiving an ITA but limited impact on training choices.

Back-to-Work Incentives

"Cost-Effectiveness of Targeted Reemployment Bonuses." Christopher J. O'Leary, Paul T. Decker, and Stephen A. Wandner. Journal of Human Resources, 2005. Targeting reemployment bonus offers to unemployment insurance recipients likely to exhaust benefits may reduce benefit payments, although earlier research has not generated overwhelming support for this technique. The authors show that targeting benefits with profiling models similar to those used in state Worker Profiling and Reemployment Services systems can improve targeting's cost-effectiveness. Because estimated average benefit payments do not steadily decline as the eligibility screen is tightened, narrow targeting is not optimal. The best model is a low bonus amount with a long qualification period, targeted to the half of profiled claimants most likely to exhaust their benefits.

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