Policy Research

The benefits and costs of JTPA Title II-A programs: Key findings from the National Job Training Partnership Act Study

Howard S. Bloom, Larry L. Orr, Stephen H. Bell, George Cave, Fred Doolittle, Winston Lin, Johannes M. Bos

Summary

This experiment randomly assigned students into a treatment group that was invited to participate in employment training and services through the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA), and a control group that could not participate. The study found that completion of the program had a significant positive impact on completion of a GED or high school diploma in females who had never been arrested. Males and females who had been arrested, as well as males who had never been arrested, saw no statistical differences.

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Policy Implications

This experiment shows the JTPA fell well short of reaching its goals (it was eventually repealed and replaced with the Workforce Investment Act by President Bill Clinton). Such vocational training failed to produce significant differences in levels of employment and income. One of the possible faults of the policy mentioned by the authors was the possibility of it suffering from a “too little, too late” problem. Stronger training initiated at earlier ages may yield more promising results.