Job placement services and supports
Strategy overview
- Increasing employment for vulnerable groups: Job placement services and supports can help individuals experiencing long term unemployment find stable jobs and earn a consistent income. These practices are particularly useful to certain groups who face unique challenges in securing and maintaining employment, like those with mental health challenges, dislocated workers, and recipients of public benefits. Proven practices include individual placement and support services, counseling and training programs for dislocated workers, and post-employment supports for former welfare recipients.
- Meeting the needs of those with severe mental illness: For individuals struggling with mental illness, individual placement and support (IPS) programs can improve employment outcomes via job search, job placement, and post-placement supports. Programs typically hire dedicated case managers who are given small caseloads, allowing them to provide individualized assistance to participants.
- Offering individuals a range of supports: For displaced workers suffering from mass layoffs, transitions in industrial sectors, or shifts in global trade, evidence-based programs tend to offer tiered supports that increase participants' skills, employment, and earnings. An example is the Adult and Dislocated Worker Program, which offers services ranging from lower intensity interventions like online job search assistance and career counseling to higher intensity supports, like individualized job training.
- Keeping former welfare recipients employed: The Post-Assistance Self-Sufficiency (PASS) program focuses on individuals receiving benefits from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. The program provides post-employment services to help recipients remain employed, including case management, counseling and mentoring, referrals to training and education, and other supports.
Multiple systematic reviews and randomized control trials of job placement services and supports found that they were associated with a range of positive outcomes for the target population, including higher earnings and more stable employment.
A 2021 systematic review found that, relative to participants receiving standard services, individual placement and support participants had improved employment outcomes.
A 2014 systematic review found that the individual placement and support model demonstrated positive effects on hours worked and wages for individuals with substance use and/or mental disorders.
A 2017 randomized controlled trial found that Workforce Investment Act services increased hours worked, likelihood of completing a training program, and likelihood of receiving a credential.
- A 2010 randomized controlled trial found that the Riverside Post-Assistance Self-Sufficiency intervention increased participants’ earnings by $967 and their likelihood of employment by 3.7 percent four years after beginning in the program.
Before making investments in this strategy, city and county leaders should ensure this strategy addresses local needs.
The Urban Institute has developed an indicator framework to help local leaders assess conditions related to upward mobility, identify barriers, and guide investments to address these challenges. These indicator frameworks can serve as a starting point for self-assessment, not as a comprehensive evaluation, and should be complemented by other forms of local knowledge.
The Urban Institute's Upward Mobility Framework identifies a set of key local conditions that shape communities’ ability to advance upward mobility and racial equity. Local leaders can use the Upward Mobility Framework to better understand the factors that improve upward mobility and prioritize areas of focus. Data reports for cities and counties can be created here.
Several indicators in the Upward Mobility Framework may be improved with investments in job placement services and supports. To measure these indicators and determine if investments in these interventions could help, examine the following:
Employment opportunities: Ratio of pay on an average job to the cost of living. These data are available from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics’ Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages.
Access to jobs paying a living wage: Employment-to-population ratio for adults ages 25 to 54. These data are available from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey and the Bureau of Labor and Statistics’ Local Area Unemployment Statistics.
Opportunities for income: Household income at 20th, 50th, and 80th percentiles. These data are available from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey.
Financial security: Share of households with debt in collections. These data are available from the Urban Institute’s Debt in America website.
Mathematica's Education-to-Workforce (E-W) Indicator Framework helps local leaders identify the data that matter most in helping students and young adults succeed. Local leaders can use the E-W framework to better understand education and workforce conditions in their communities and to identify strategies that can improve outcomes in these areas.
Several indicators in the E-W Framework may be improved with investments in job placement services and supports. To measure these indicators and determine if investments in this strategy could help, examine the following:
- Access to in-demand CTE pathways: Number and percentage of CTE program offerings considered “in demand”.
- CTE pathway concentration: Percentage of CTE students who earn at least 12 credits within a CTE program, or complete such a program if it encompasses fewer than 12 credits in total.
Expenditures on workforce development programming: The amount of funding dedicated to workforce development programs as a percentage of total educational funding in a state.
Industry-recognized credential: Percentage of program participants who have completed at least one industry-recognized credential.
Successful career transition after high school: Percentage of high school graduates enlisted in the military, enrolled in an apprenticeship program, enrolled in noncredit career and technical education (CTE) courses, or employed and earning at least the median annual full-time earnings for high school graduates ($35,000 per year) before October 31 following graduation.
- Offer wraparound services: In addition to traditional job search assistance, provide participants with support services to remove barriers to accessing employment. The most appropriate supports will depend on participants’ needs, but may include computer access, transportation subsidies, mental health services, or financial support for education.
- Provide ongoing supports: To promote stable employment, provide or connect participants to services at every step of their progress, including the job search, job placement, and post-placement phases. By offering comprehensive services over an extended period, programs can more effectively help individuals stay employed.
- Build relationships with employers: Understanding the culture and working conditions at specific companies will help case managers identify good matches. Additionally, working with employers that pay competitive wages, offer benefits, or provide on-the-job training will position participants for more stable employment.
- Reward participant motivation: When resources are limited, use demonstrated participant motivation as a criterion for accessing resource-intensive services. For example, occupation-specific training, which has a substantial cost, may be first offered to those who have demonstrated interest in the field and exhibited effort in the program (e.g., high attendance at workshops).
Evidence-based examples
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Outcome Area |
This ranking reflects how these approaches are scored in one of the major government- or philanthropy-led clearinghouse resources. For more: https://catalog.results4americ... |
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Supportive services aimed to increase participants' employment and earnings
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High-quality employment |
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Connects adults to demand-driven, job-specific training and career and technical education
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Stable and healthy families High-quality employment |
Evidence varies across specific models |
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Provides job search assistance and unemployment eligibility reviews to recipients of unemployment benefits
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High-quality employment |
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Through a supported employment intervention, participants receive rapid job search and individualized job placement services
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High-quality employment |
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Prevents youth disconnection through work readiness training, paid internships, and mentoring
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High school graduation High-quality employment |
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Individualized coaching for low-income students to review financial need and academic and employment goals
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Post-secondary enrollment and graduation |
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