Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

ReHire Colorado is a supported work program that provides services to help individuals who are unemployed or underemployed find and maintain employment. Participants in ReHire are eligible for direct support in job search and retraining, including having access to a transitional job for up to 26 weeks. ReHire targets three priority groups: older workers (aged 50+), veterans, and non-custodial parents.

We implement a randomized control trial to estimate program impacts on employment, earnings, and benefit usage. While ReHire is designed to help unemployed workers get and keep a job, the literature finds mixed results on the effectiveness of these types of programs in improving earnings and employment outcomes. Heterogeneous treatment effects provide a potential explanation. By combining survey data collected at baseline with administrative earnings data, our analysis will shed light on why the literature finds mixed results for such programs and better understand the types of people for which this program works