Are Participants Good Evaluators?

Managers of workforce training programs are often unable to afford costly, full-fledged experimental or nonexperimental evaluations to determine their programs’ impacts. Therefore, many rely on the survey responses of program participants to gauge program impacts. Smith, Whalley, and Wilcox present the first attempt to assess such measures despite their already widespread use in program evaluations. They develop a multidisciplinary framework for addressing the issue and apply it to three case studies: the National Job Training Partnership Act Study, the U.S. National Supported Work Demonstration, and the Connecticut Jobs First Program. Each of these studies were subjected to experimental evaluations that included a survey-based participant evaluation measure. The authors apply econometric methods specifically developed to obtain estimates of program impacts among individuals in the studies and then compare these estimates with survey-based participant evaluation measures to obtain an assessment of the surveys’ efficacy. The authors also discuss how their findings fit into the broader literatures in economics, psychology, and survey research.

An Econometric Analysis of the Effects of the Job Training Partnership Act on Self-Sufficiency

The primary purpose of the study is to investigate the likelihood of a Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) participant getting a job placement after receiving training, and to identifying the factors that affect the attainment of self-sufficiency (Bloom and Charles, 2001; Friedlander, 1988; Gueron and Edward, 1991). Additionally, the research study focuses on learning more about the determinants of the wage rate at the time when a participant gets a placement. This study has found that successful completion of training combined with prior work experience are the most important factors that affect the chance of getting a job placement. This finding is consistent with Eberts (2002) and Schexnayder et al. (1991). Furthermore, the results show that the most significant variables affecting self-sufficiency are (1) completion of long-term training and (2) reading ability. An additional finding of the study is that if the participant is a recipient of food stamps, then his/her probability of achieving self-sufficiency decreases. Our study’s main contribution is the identification of significant variables to be included in the development of workforce policies aiming at promoting economic self-sufficiency and mitigating poverty in Florida.

The Dislocated Textile Worker in Rural Alabama: A Portrait

This is a study that delves into the attitudes of the rural Alabama textile worker at the point of being laid off. The methodology and findings are discussed and a personal interview transcribed from a former dislocated worker concerning her feelings, attitudes, and aspirations on how the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) program has impacted her life and career.