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Bridging the Data Gap: Uncovering Long-Term Outcomes of Workforce Development Programs

Highlights

  • Gaps in workforce data limit understanding of participants’ long-term employment outcomes.
  • 10-year analysis aims to bolster understanding of program participant outcomes.
  • Long-term labor outcome research informs workforce program design and delivery.
The Challenge

While previous studies of workforce programs like AAI and TAACCCT have examined short-term and intermediate outcomes, there is limited evidence about the longer-term labor market outcomes of participants in career pathways programs, including registered apprenticeships and other work-based learning programs. This work will address this gap by analyzing the employment and earnings outcomes for AAI and TAACCCT participants, including for different subgroups, up to 10 years after they enrolled in the programs. It seeks to provide critical new information on whether observed earnings gains are sustained over the long-run to create lasting economic opportunities for diverse populations across the U.S.

The Approach

Abt is conducting separate long-term outcomes studies of AAI and TAACCCT participants, using employment and earnings data from the National Directory of New Hires (NDNH). The AAI study includes a sample of over 21,000 AAI apprentices and 8,000 pre-apprentices and the TAACCCT study includes over 2,000 participants from eight TAACCCT grantees.

The Results

Building on the groundwork laid by Abt’s previous AAI andTAACCCT research, these studies aim to uncover the long-term employment and earnings outcomes for participants 10 years after program enrollment. Our analysis will delve into the labor market outcomes of participants in AAI and TAACCCT programs and explore variations across subgroups, including industry and demographic characteristics. By extending the length of the follow-up period, these studies will contribute to an understanding of the sustainability of earnings gains over the long-run, supporting data-driven insights to inform the development of future workforce development initiatives.