Panel Paper:
Costs, Benefits, and Five-Year Impacts from the Workadvance Evaluation
*Names in bold indicate Presenter
The most recent economic impact findings from the evaluation, based on three years of follow-up, showed that sector programs can have economic effects that last beyond two years and, in some cases, that grow larger after the two-year mark. The pattern of impacts across the WorkAdvance sites suggests that provider maturity and experience running sector programs matter, and not all programs will lead to economic gains.
Five years of follow-up data is now available, allowing for a test of whether the WorkAdvance programs led to advancement gains – measured by earnings – within the sectors, and not just initial job placements. The main impact analysis was done at the site level due to substantial variation in starting points and organizational emphases across the providers. Because the effects of WorkAdvance were expected to strengthen as the programs gained more experience, the economic impacts were also analyzed by cohort. This presentation may also include a discussion of a few career pathways targeted by the WorkAdvance providers.
Previous findings from the evaluation’s cost analysis showed expenditures on the operation of WorkAdvance ran between $5,200 and $6,700 per participant for the four providers delivering the program. Findings from a full cost-benefit analysis are now available, allowing for an assessment of whether each of the WorkAdvance programs when viewed in aggregate resulted in gains or losses from the perspectives of the participants in each program, the government, and society as a whole.
