Nevada Reemployment and Eligibility Assessment
Local governments can invest in this strategy using State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF) from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA).
- This strategy can provide assistance to unemployed workers. The U.S. Department of Treasury has indicated that strategies that help achieve this outcome are eligible for the use of Fiscal Recovery Funds.
- Investments in this strategy are SLFRF-eligible as long as they are made in qualified census tracts or are designed to assist populations or communities disproportionately impacted by COVID-19.
Program overview
- Provides counseling sessions to recipients of unemployed benefits
- Seeks to increase employment and earnings and reduce unemployment benefit receipt
- Services include Unemployment Insurance eligibility reviews and job search assistance
- Outcomes
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Stable high-quality employment
- Strategies
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Job placement services and supports
- Target Population
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Adults and families
- Cost per Participant
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$250 per participant
Evidence and impacts
Ranked as having the highest level of evidence by Social Programs That Work
- Earnings gains of 15 percent ($8,460) over three years, and net government savings. These findings reproduce highly positive results of an earlier RCT of the Nevada program conducted in the aftermath of the Great Recession, indicating that the program’s effects are generalizable.
- The REA results illustrate that impact size often depends more on the specific program model (Nevada REA) than on the general approach (reemployment programs), as other rigorously-tested REA programs with different features have produced small or no impacts.
- Prior study showed that NV REA increased earnings by $2,988 (18%). Increased employment by 4 percentage points. Net savings to the UI system of $765 per claimant, 18-26 months after random assignment.
Best practices in implementation
- Require participants to attend one-on-one meetings with state workforce staff to undergo eligibility reviews and job counseling services.
- Use an initial eligibility review as a crucial entry point to the program: those who fail to show up for the initial review or those identified during the review as not actively job searching should be disqualified from collecting UI benefits.
- For those deemed eligible during the initial review, use that meeting to initiate personalized job-counseling services, including assessing occupation skills, developing a job search plan, providing direct referrals to local employers, and resume review.
- Given the significance of the initial intake meeting, send scheduling requests within 2-4 weeks of a UI claim, along with reminders and clear expectations that a failure to show up means forgoing future UI benefits.
- Conclude initial intake meetings by explaining that participants must continue to actively job search, though they are not required to attend follow-up meetings or receive additional services.