Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

The process of "transitioning" from youth to adulthood for youth with disabilities has long been recognized to be an important but understudied public policy concern. This paper evaluates the labor market effects of Virginia’s school-to-work vocational evaluation program, PERT. Using a unique panel data set containing more than a decade of employment and service provision, we provide the …rst-ever assessment of the long-term employment impacts of a transitioning program for youth with disabilities. Overall, the estimated e¤ects are striking: PERT increases average quarterly earnings by just over 177% and has an estimated median quarterly rate of return of nearly 30%.