Absence of conflict of interest.
Highlights
- The study's objective was to examine the impact of the Subsidized and Transitional Employment Demonstration (STED) on earnings and wages in seven sites. This profile focuses on San Francisco’s hybrid program, the TransitionsSF program. The authors investigated similar research questions for other sites; profiles of those studies are available here:
- The study was a randomized control trial that assigned 995 participants to either the TransitionsSF program or a control group. Using a baseline survey and administrative data from the National Directory of New Hires (NDNH), the author used a statistical model to compare the outcomes of treatment and control group members.
- The study found that treatment group participants had significantly higher annual earnings than control group participants in the first four years after study enrollment.
- The quality of causal evidence presented in this report is high because it was based on a well-implemented randomized control trial. This means we are confident that the estimated effects are attributable to the TransitionsSF program, and not to other factors.
Intervention Examined
Features of the Intervention
TransitionsSF is a hybrid employment program that provides job training and subsidized employment to noncustodial parents who are struggling to pay their child support orders. The program assigns participants to one of three different tiers of subsidized employment based on their job readiness. Participants with lower levels of job readiness receive traditional transitional employment services through jobs in either the non-profit (Tier 1) or public sector (Tier 2). Participants with a higher level of job readiness receive jobs from private-sector employers (Tier 3) and these jobs are expected to eventually transition to regular, unsubsidized jobs. TransitionsSF participants also received case management services and child support assistance.
Features of the Study
The study was a randomized control trial conducted in San Francisco, California to examine the impact of the TransitionsSF program. The 995 noncustodial parents in San Francisco who enrolled in the study were randomly assigned to either the TransitionsSF program (the treatment group) or a control group that had access to other case management services offered to unemployed parents by San Francisco Department of Child Support Services Most study participants were males (88 percent). Two in three were Black (67 percent), 19 percent were Hispanic, and 3 percent were White. About two-thirds had a high school diploma (68 percent). The study relied on multiple data sources for analysis, including a baseline survey at study enrollment and quarterly earnings and unemployment insurance data from the National Directory of New Hires (NDNH). The author used a statistical model to compare the outcomes of treatment and control group participants.
Findings
Earnings and wages
- The study found that treatment group participants earned significantly more annually than the control group ($7,442 more) in the first three years after study enrollment and in the fourth year after study enrollment ($2,177 more).
- The study did not find statistically significant differences in annual earnings between the treatment group and the control group in years five to eight after study enrollment.
- The study also did not find a statistically significant difference in cumulative earnings between the treatment group and the control group over the eight-year follow-up period.
Causal Evidence Rating
Additional Sources
Research Guidelines
Review Protocol: Living Systematic Annual Search and Review Protocol
Review Guidelines: Causal Evidence Guidelines