Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

Panel: Application of Behavioral Insights in Labor Programs

(Employment and Training Programs)

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) is committed to making its programs as effective as possible by continuously evaluating and improving them. One way that DOL demonstrates this commitment is by helping agencies use evidence from evaluations to inform policy and enhance the effectiveness of its programs. For more than two years, DOL has sponsored a team of researchers with expertise in evaluation and behavioral science to identify opportunities to apply behavioral insights within existing Labor programs and assess whether applying these insights helps participants achieve better outcomes. As the research team rapidly designs, refines, and implements low-cost program changes and rigorous evaluations, it measures the impacts of the behavioral strategies and gives DOL recommendations for addressing high priority, policy-relevant problems. This research team has already developed and tested strategies to address program elements that haven’t yet been informed by our growing understanding of participants’ cognitive limitations and psychological biases. These elements include (1) how programs conduct outreach strategies and communicate with their targets, (2) how they engage and enroll participants, and (3) how they work to keep them engaged throughout the program’s length, among others. Insights from behavioral economics can help program administrators identify aspects of their existing programs that do not elicit the desired participant responses and formulate changes that may yield better results. These insights can also help them take a fresh look at their program objectives and experiment with innovative strategies to make it easier for participants to follow through on the intentions that brought them to the program and achieve their goals. This panel will share emerging lessons from this research effort and reflect on how DOL can continue to integrate and apply behavioral insights in Labor programs.