Sectoral Employment Development Learning Project (SEDLP): This 4½-year project was an intensive learning evaluation of the outcomes, strategies and industry relationships of six leading sectoral programs. The project produced a series of research reports that highlighted the labor market outcomes for low-income participants of these projects both prior to receiving training, and one and two years following training. In addition, extensive research was done on the particular strategies each program employed to provide services to low-income people and to industry. Results of that research appear in research reports that discuss the methodology used and provide an overview of the outcomes; in-depth case studies of each of the organizations participating in the SEDLP; and policy papers which benchmarked findings about participants in the six programs against findings from other well known studies of workforce development demonstrations, such as the National Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) Study. Click here to find out more about the research reports, case studies, and policy papers that resulted from this research.

P/PV’s Sectoral Employment Impact Study: Released in July 2010, the study shows that program participants earned about $4,500—18 percent— more than the control group over the course of the study and $4,000—9 percent—more in the second year alone. Study participants were also more likely to find employment, work more consistently, work in jobs that paid higher wages, and work in jobs that offered benefits. Earnings gains were shown for each subgroup analyzed, including African Americans, Latinos, immigrants, formerly incarcerated individuals and young adults.

The study was conducted by P/PV, with WSI Director Maureen Conway participating on the research team and co-authoring this report as well as interim publications. Tuning In to Local Labor Markets also examines the strategies employed by the three organizations that took part in the study, as well as the common elements that appeared to be critical to their success.