Study Details | Pathways to Work

3025-Center for Employmen

Study quality: Low

Low

Reason for the rating: This study received a low study quality rating because it is a high-attrition randomized controlled trial that does not adjust estimated impacts for potentially important differences between the intervention and comparison groups.

Intervention: Center for Employment Training (CET) Program

Population and employment barriers: Young adults (aged 16-24)

Services provided: Case management, Training, Occupational or sectoral training, Job search assistance, Job development/job placement

Setting: Urban only

Study Design

Design:

Randomized controlled trial

Study group formation:

Within each of the 12 program sites, eligible youth first had to attend an orientation on the Center for Employment Training (CET) program. Those interested had to then attend up to five additional sessions on subsequent days. (The number of required sessions varied by program site.) Those who completed the additional session(s) were then randomly assigned to either the intervention group, which was eligible to receive the CET intervention, or a comparison group, which was not eligible for CET for 24 months. Between November 1995 and September 1999, a total of 1,485 out-of-school youth were randomly assigned to either the intervention group (748 members) or the comparison group (737). This study reports on 30-month outcomes and 54-month outcomes.

Time period of study:

Random assignment took place between 1995 and 1999. The longest follow-up period was 54 months.

Pathways only reports results from studies with a study quality rating of high or moderate.

Sample Characteristics

Respondents to the CET 30-month survey were between 19 and 24 years old. Nearly half (45 percent) lived with their parents or another relative. More than half (57 percent) of the youth, regardless of living situation, reported that they had children of their own at follow-up, and nearly half (47 percent) were living with all of their own children.

Age

Mean age	19 years
Young adults	100%

Sex

Female	57%
Male	43%

Participant race and ethnicity

Black or African American	51%
White	6%
Hispanic or Latino of any race	41%
Unknown, not reported, or other	2%

Family status

Parents	37%
Single parents	22%

Participant employment and public benefit status

Were employed	12%
Were unemployed	69%
Had low incomes	74%

Participant education

Had a high school diploma or GED	42%
Did not have a high school diploma or GED	58%

Specific employment barriers

Were formerly incarcerated	9%
Were immigrants	12%

Intervention Implementation

Implementing organization:

Center for Employment Training, local community-based organizations, and local Private Industry Councils

Intervention services:

Employment and training services were provided in a work-like setting, with intense, full-time participation in those services. Training (including basic skills training) was focused on specific occupations and continued until youth were placed in full-time employment. CET centers also had a job developer working closely with local industry, and industry leaders were hired to teach courses and review curricula.

Mandatory services:

None.

Comparison services:

Youth in the comparison group were not eligible for CET for 24 months, but they could enroll in other local service programs.

Study Publications

Miller, Cynthia, Johannes M. Bos, Kristin E. Porter, Fannie M. Tseng, and Yasuyo Abe (2005). The challenge of repeating success in a changing world: Final report on the Center for Employment Training replication sites, ETAOP 2006-04, Washington, DC: Employment and Training Administration, U.S. Department of Labor. Available at https://www.mdrc.org/sites/default/files/full_530.pdf.

Miller, Cynthia, Johannes M. Bos, Kristin E. Porter, Fannie M. Tseng, Fred C. Doolittle, Deana N. Tanguay, and Mary P. Vencill (2003). Working with disadvantaged youth: Thirty-month findings from the evaluation of the Center for Employment Training replication sites, New York: MDRC. Available at https://www.doleta.gov/reports/papers/cet_full_report.pdf.

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Study of Center for Employment Training (CET) Program—Replication Sites