For Immediate Release
April 19, 2000
Contact: Alisa Giardinelli
610.690.5717
[email protected]
http://www.swarthmore.edu/Home/News
Best Proof Yet of Job Corps' Success, Swarthmore Economist Says
In the first major evaluation of Job Corps in 20 years and the biggest study of any American social program, new research confirms the federal program's success in improving the prospects of disadvantaged young people, a Swarthmore College economist says.
"We have always said this program helps people succeed," says Robinson G. Hollister Jr., professor of economics and a member of the study's advisory board. "Now the government has hard evidence to support those claims."
The study, conducted by Mathematica Policy Research and released late last month, compared approximately 10,000 participants from across the country -- half randomly assigned to the program and half not. Results showed that those in the program reported higher earnings and less dependence on public assistance than their counterparts. Participants were also more likely to earn their G.E.D. and less likely to get arrested, according to the study. Hollister says the random assignment was critical in establishing that these results were due to the Job Corps experience.
Funding for the antipoverty program, originally a part of Lyndon Johnson's Great Society, comes under attack on an almost regular basis, Hollister says. "It always looks like a big target because the per-person cost is high [last year, about $20,000 per participant]," he says "It's out of danger for the moment, but all it takes is one person in the right place to call it into question."
Hollister is an expert in poverty, welfare reform, health care, and the effectiveness of job training for the economically disadvantaged. He has testified before Congress and written widely on the effectiveness of the federal Job Corps, which he has evaluated and monitored since the 1960s.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, which administers the program, Job Corps is the nation's largest and most comprehensive residential education and job training program for at-risk youth, ages 16 through 24. Since 1964, the program has provided more than 1.7 million people with the integrated academic, vocational, and social skills training they need to gain independence and get long-term jobs or further their education.
Located near Philadelphia, Swarthmore is a highly selective liberal arts college with an enrollment of 1,400. Swarthmore is ranked the number one liberal arts college in the country by U.S. News & World Report.
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