Evaluating the Effectiveness of Job Corps: A Critical Analysis

1 Andrea, Thanks for your submission. There seems to be some misunderstanding of the assignment requirements. Please revisit the reading as well as assignment instructions. You can resubmit your assignment within a week. I will reevaluate your resubmission once you have completed. Please review my comments below and let me know if you have any questions. Dr. Z Recommend Two Perspectives Appropriate to a Research Study Andrea C. Harris Northcentral University BUS 7100 Week 4 Dr. Z September 10, 2023

2 Recommend Two Perspectives Appropriate to a Research Study The paper will examine the theorical framework of why Job Corps is failing America’s youth and taxpayers are wasting money on this program. Over the last six decades, the Job Corps program has provided educational and vocational training to over three million young adults across the country. There have been many benefits the program has provided but at what cost to the American taxpayer. Should there be support for a declining program? Is there a way to save the Job Corps program? The paper will also examine studies from 2001 to 2022 based on what has been studied and if there are any significant changes in the Job Corps program. In a study in 2008, participants that attended Job Corps were less likely to earn their high school diploma compared to participants that did not attend Job Corps (McConnell, et al., 2001). In other evaluations of the program, a study conducted in 2001 showed that minimal increases in incomes of participants of Job Corps than participants that did not attend Job Corps. Also, in the 2001 study stated that attending Job Corps would increase wages of their participants but n reality it only raised it a mere $0.22 per hour (Schochet, 2001). In a 2003 study, which was not

3 released until 2006, showed that attending Job Corps did not increase income or increase a participant's chances of finding employment. The Job Corps program is an interesting study because of its design to have an impact on low-income youth compared to other programs that are similar. In the early conception of Job Corps, the program made significant changes to the lives of young adults, but in todays society, much more needs to be done to overcome the obstacles of educating young adults to compete with college graduates for the same career opportunities. With the rising cost of living, in 1964 it would cost $15,000 per participant to go through the Job Corps program paid for by the taxpayers. Now, in 2023, it cost more than $45,000 per participant to complete the program. That in compared to college tuition, it would be cheaper to attend college. While many young adults would rather skip college and attend a vocational program, this particular program has not proven to be beneficial. With the outdated certifications that these young adults are receiving will not withstand time in today’s society. Job Corps needs to concentrate more on providing safe and secure housing, industry leading trades, and the skills they claim to give the young adults that entered the program. The pandemic not only halted young adults from working but it has brought the entire Job Corps program to a complete stop. When the pandemic forced everyone into their houses, it also forced Job Corps to close their doors and send every student to their homes. While schools have re-opened, many Job Corps center are struggling to recoup the loss of their students. Job Corps’ enrollment once was at an all time high of 60,000 students per year. Since March of 2020, enrollment is down to just 20,000 students per year. Rather than assisting young adults, like the program is designed to do, one of the biggest beneficiaries are the for-profits government contractors who are the administrators over the programs at various Job Corps (Kim, 2021). Many of these contractors

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4 have had these contractors for decades which related to millions of dollars annually. If the doors were to close, then these contractors would lose in upward of hundreds of millions of dollars. In a research by Kim, 2021, has an important admonition, The Department of Labor has begun tracking its students twenty years after they have left the program. In this research, beginning in 1995 until 2021 shows little evidence that the Job Corps program has improved. In an audit conducted by the Inspector General found that the program could not validate the placements of students according to their trades. In another audit conducted by the Inspector General in 2011, the Job Corps program exaggerated the successes of their students graduating and obtaining jobs as entry-level but are dissimilar to their training. On the mismanagement of funds, the Inspector General found in a 2013 audit that the Job Corps program had been awarded an estimated $353 millions in contracts to their contractors and another $164 million for training of students that did not enroll in the program.

5 References German, B. (2017). Who benefits from job placement services? A two-sided analysis. Journal of Productivity Analysis 47:1, 33-47. Howard, R. (2016). On the “Why” of Social Experiments: Some Lessons on Overcoming Barriers from 45 Years of social Experiments. New Directions for Evaluations 2016:152, 19-31. Kim, A. (2021). Out of School, Out of Work. Washington Monthly McConnell, S., Schochet, P., Burghardt, J. (2008). Does Job Corps Work? Impact Findings from the National Job Corps Study. American Economic Review 2008 , 98:5 1864-1886 Schochet, P., (2021). Long-Run Labor Market Effects of the Job Corps Program: Evidence from a Nationally Representative Experiment. Journal of Policy Analysts and Management 40:1, 128-157. Xuan, C., Flores, C. (2015). Bounds on treatment Effects in the Presence of Sample Selection and Noncompliance: The Wage Effects of Job Corps. Journal of Business and Economic Statistics 33:4, 523-540.

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