Measuring the Impact of Workforce Development Programming: Experimental Evidence from Goodwill North Georgia’s Workforce Development Program

We study the impact of the Career Services training program offered by Goodwill of North Georgia, a nonprofit leader in providing job seekers with career services and job training through the Atlanta metropolitan region and beyond. Goodwill provides intensive job preparation and training services to help individuals find employment in one of a number of occupations or industries—for example, welding, construction, medical billing and coding, technology, maintenance, CDL, forklift operations, and supply chain. Trainees participate in short, 4–16 week training programs that end with the attainment of an industry-recognized certification. During this training period, participants are connected with paid work-based learning opportunities and are supported by a career coach that helps them overcome employment barriers and focus not just on getting a job, but on identifying their career pathway. While many participants are funded through Goodwill’s own missing funding, Goodwill trains many individuals who receive funding through prominent federal funding sources—e.g., WIOA and SNAP Employment and Training (SNAP Works).

Program services include basic job preparation and career services, certification programs operated by partner organizations and colleges, as well as light case management. These services are meant to develop clients’ job-finding and job-holding skills as well as their vocation-specific skills, preparing them to gain and maintain employment. Goodwill’s training philosophy focuses on the “Career Pathways ABCs,” helping clients find A first job, a Better job, and a Career. Before, during, and after training career coaches continue to work with clients to eliminate employment barriers, navigate skill acquisition, find employment in an entry-level job, and work toward growing in their career.

2022-11-01

2025-12-31

Quarterly employment, quarterly earnings, and monthly SNAP receipt measured through at least the 8th quarter (24th month) following randomization

Number of consecutive quarters worked; Financial well-being index (Constructed as a single standardized index of credit outcomes); postsecondary education attainment; program and professional certification

Individuals are invited to an orientation session that lightly screens for whether the potential trainee is motivated, reliable, and dependable (MRD). MRD is a one to two day session meant to determine whether clients are committed to program completion and to provide them with some of the skills necessary to be successful in their eventual job. During orientation, program staff work to understand a client’s background and career goals. Each applicant is considered holistically, with the intake staff member having significant discretion in which applicants pass or fail MRD. Beyond a general assessment, some key selection criteria are whether they showed up for the orientation days and whether they have a transportation option to the specific program.

Upon completing MRD, random assignment occurs among individuals who lack external funding. Those without funding are randomly assigned with 50 percent probability to one of two groups. Individuals assigned to the treatment group are offered mission funding to complete their job training program, light touch case management, and other services provided by the Career Center, such as help with resume writing and interview skills. Control group clients are directed to other service providers and do not continue receiving access to Goodwill’s Career Center services. Other services provided in the community include those provided by American Jobs Centers or other social service agencies. While these organizations also offer job search assistance and potentially partner with industry-specific training programs, they are not exact substitutes for Goodwill of North Georgia’s Career Services program. Their services are less centralized, with applicants going through a number of different applications to various partner organizations. All already-funded clients who complete MRD (e.g., individuals with WIOA funding) are offered a spot in a job training program.

Not available

Randomization done on computer

Individual

No

1000 individuals

1000 individuals

500 treatment (access to training); 500 controls

Two of our primary outcomes are an indicator for quarterly employment and quarterly earnings. We assume an 85 percent take-up rate, 80 percent power and a type-1 error rate of 5 percent, with base control group means and standard deviations on information reported on the Good Transitions program operated by Goodwill as a part of the Enhanced Transitional Jobs Demonstration, as well as information on low-wage job seekers from the ReHire Colorado randomized controlled trial (Barham, Cadena, and Turner, 2023). We estimate the following minimum detectable effect sizes (MDEs) for two of our primary outcomes: Quarterly Employment—8.9 pp increase among those enrolled in the program (7.6 pp for the entire treatment group) relative to a control group mean of 72 percent Quarterly Earnings: $626 increase among those enrolled in the program ($532 for the entire treatment group) relative to a control group mean of $3,000 and standard deviation of $3,000