These plain-language reports summarize current evidence on important labor topics. Synthesis reports summarize the evidence based and identity gaps in current literature.
Showing 1 - 10 of 13 results
Behavioral Finance: Retirement
Behavioral Finance Synthesis: Findings
Findings:
- People have relatively limited knowledge about saving for retirement and can be induced to save more when provided with additional information.
- Making retirement more salient, by having people think of themselves in retirement or providing a target retirement date, can increase intentions to save and alter investment choices.
- People can become overwhelmed by the number of investment options they face; when this occurs, they tend to use simple rules to make decisions.
Employer provided retirement benefits
Behavioral Finance: Retirement
Behavioral Finance Synthesis: Gaps
Findings:
- Many studies have demonstrated a relationship between default options and behavior. Taken together, these studies suggest that default options can affect investment behavior.
- But no study produces strong causal evidence on the impacts of defaults on its own.
- There is little evidence available on how the impacts of behavioral interventions designed to influence retirement savings vary by employee age, sex, income, or race.
- There is little evidence available on how the impacts of behavioral interventions designed to influence retirement affect total savings.
Child Labor
Findings:
- Conditional cash transfers (CCTs) reduced child work/child labor and improved school participation outcomes but the effectiveness differed by child characteristics and outcomes.
- Unconditional cash transfers (UCT) reduced child work/child labor and improved school participation.
- Training/TA programs may decrease child work/child labor and increase school participation.
- Food programs had mixed impacts on child work/child labor outcomes but favorable school participation outcomes.
- Only one high-rated study of a scholarship program had favorable impacts on child work/child labor and school participation outcomes.
- The only high-rated study of an “other” intervention found improved child labor and school participation outcomes.
Community College
Findings:
- Many community college-based interventions improved education outcomes but few improved earnings or employment outcomes.
- Paid performance incentives improved education outcomes and show promise to increase earnings.
- Accelerated learning interventions increased the rates of course enrollment and completion as well as the rates of degree/certificate completion.
- Some studies showed that work-based learning interventions improved education and employment outcomes, but the evidence base is small.
- Career pathways interventions had varying degrees of effectiveness across the outcomes.
- Evidence on the effectiveness of blended interventions funded by TAACCCT is mixed.
Employment and Training Services
Employment and Reemployment
Training and Education
Capacity building programs
Community college education and other classroom training
Disability Employment Policy
Disability Employment Policy Research Synthesis
Findings:
- Many disability employment interventions improved participant employment and earnings outcomes but few improved education and training, health, or public benefits receipt outcomes.
- Transition programs and support services interventions improved the widest variety of outcome categories.
- VR interventions improved employment and earnings outcomes but the effectiveness differed by disability type and the types of services received.
- Supported employment interventions improved employment and earnings outcomes but the evidence base is small.
- The two high-rated studies on benefits offsets showed no significant impact on earnings outcomes and an unfavorable impact on public benefits receipt outcomes.
- The only high-rated study of a mental and behavioral health supports intervention showed promise.
- Studies assessing the PROMISE intervention across multiple time points reported changes in outcomes.
- Studies assessing the same intervention across multiple sites reported differing results.
Entrepreneurship and Self-Employment
Entrepreneurship and Self-Employment Synthesis
Findings:
- Evidence indicates that business education plus additional services boost short-term employment, but reduces short term earnings, with impacts on long-term earnings fading over time.
- Interventions designed to improve the development of business ideas and increase business development activities have limited evidence on their effectiveness.
- Few studies examined outcomes related to formal education and workforce training or public benefit receipt, and those that did found no evidence of impacts.
- Studies provide suggestive evidence that education-only interventions improve attitudes toward entrepreneurship.
Employment and Reemployment
Other employment and reemployment
Opportunities for Youth
Evidence on the Effectiveness of the National Guard Youth ChalleNGe Program
Findings:
- Research provides strong evidence that NGYCP improves the educational outcomes of at-risk youth.
- There is also strong evidence that NGYCP improves the labor market outcomes of at-risk youth.
- A cost-benefit analysis found NGYCP produced large positive benefits.
- NGYCP is a multi-component intervention, with little evidence on the effectiveness of specific components.
Career Academies
Evidence on the Effectiveness of Career Academies for High School Students
Findings:
- Career Academies produced strong and sustained increases in students’ post-high school earnings. These impacts were concentrated among young men.
- Career Academies did not increase educational attainment.
- Implementing all three program components proved somewhat challenging.
OSHA Enforcement
Evidence on the Effects of OSHA Activities
Findings:
- According to the research, there is some evidence that OSHA inspections reduce injury rates, on average.
- Some recent research has strong current relevance and provides valuable descriptive information, but low causal evidence on the impact of inspections.
- There is little information on the characteristics of OSHA inspections and other OSHA activities.
Inspections
Mine Safety and Health
Mine Safety and Health Synthesis
Findings:
- Studies receiving a low causal evidence rating provide valuable information about the intervention.
- Engineering controls prevented injuries or improved safety practices that could prevent injuries.
- Enforcement activities improved health and safety outcomes but the evidence base is small.
- The only moderate-rated study on safety regulations showed no significant impact on health and safety outcomes.
- Training interventions may increase knowledge and skills that could improve health and safety outcomes.
Inspections
Mine safety and health
Workplace injury