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• Workers in transitional jobs programs receive more intensive support, supervision, and assistance in working
through barriers to employment than they would in other TANF programs.
• Wage costs represent a sizable portion of total costs for most of the programs, but they comprise a smaller
portion of costs in the programs with more intensive services.
• Consistent participation in the study programs usually leads to permanent unsubsidized employment.
• Program participants and staff report that transitional work has a positive effect—financially, professionally,
and personally—on participants’ lives.
KEY FINDINGS
P
roposals for reauthorizing the Temporary
Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) legisla-
tion make clear that the employment focus of wel-
fare programs will continue and, possibly, intensify.
The President’s proposal declares that encouraging
work is “the heart of welfare reform” and calls for
increasing the number of welfare recipients who
must work and the amount of work they must do.
The reauthorization bills proposed by congressional
Democrats differ in the details, but also emphasize
helping welfare recipients find and keep jobs.
Of particular concern to lawmakers are families
that—despite strong incentives to work and
increased supports for working parents—continue to
receive welfare and have difficulty finding steady
employment. Research suggests that some families
face formidable challenges to gaining employment
and attaining self-sufficiency. Addressing these chal-
lenges may require more than the standard resources
and approaches. The recent economic downturn
underscores the need for strategies that can be pur-
sued in both good times, when jobs and funding are
plentiful, and bad, when they are scarce.
Transitional jobs programs—a variation on publicly
funded jobs programs of the past—are a new option
for helping hard-to-employ TANF recipients.
These programs can be both work-focused and
supportive—a combination particularly useful, if
states must put a larger proportion of their TANF
caseload to work. A close examination of six
transitional jobs programs provides insight into the
transitional jobs model and its potential for serving
hard-to-employ TANF recipients.
What Is Transitional Work?
Transitional jobs programs offer temporary, subsi-
dized employment and direct services in a support-
ive environment to those who lack work
experience, education, or training. The guiding phi-
losophy of these programs is that work is benefi-
cial, and that the best way to learn how to work is
through paid work. As of May 2001, there were
Transitional Jobs Programs:
Stepping Stones to Unsubsidized Employment
Heather Hill, Gretchen Kirby, and LaDonna Pavetti
LESSONS FROM THE FIELD
LESSONS FROM THE FIELD
INFORMATION FOR EVALUATORS, PROGRAM LEADERS, AND POLICYMAKERS
approximately 40 transitional jobs programs nation-
wide, serving at least 3,500 individuals at a time.
1
Transitional work has these key features:
Transitional work is paid work. Like unsubsidized
workers, transitional workers earn a wage for actual
hours worked and they are eligible for the Earned
Income Tax Credit. Most positions are part-time (less
than 35 hours per week) with an hourly wage from
$5.15 to $8.52 (Table 1). Participants begin earning a
wage soon after entering a program; most are paid bi-
weekly or twice monthly. Similar to many low-wage,
entry-level workers, most transitional workers do not
receive employee benefits (for example, employer
contributions to health insurance or retirement plans).
Transitional work is designed for the hard-to-
employ. Individuals are generally referred to transi-
tional jobs programs by the TANF agency because
they are floundering in traditional “work first” pro-
grams. Transitional jobs programs are an attractive
2
People Realizing Employment Possibilities
(PREP),
Forrest City, AR
Community Jobs Program (CJP),
San Francisco, CA
GoodWorks!,
Augusta, GA
Transitional Work Corporation (TWC),
Philadelphia, PA
Community Jobs (CJ),
Aberdeen, WA
Community Jobs (CJ),
Tacoma, WA
PROGRAMS IN THE STUDY
OF WAGE-PAID TRANSITIONAL EMPLOYMENT
PREP
Forrest City, AR 30-40 $5.15, $5.50, or $6.00
a
CJP 1-parent: 32 $6.26
b
San Francisco, CA 2-parent: 35
GoodWorks!
Augusta, GA 20-28 $5.15-$8.52
c
TWC
Philadelphia, PA 25 $5.15
CJ
Aberdeen, WA 20 $6.72
d
CJ
Tacoma, WA 20 $6.72
d
Hours per Week Wage per Hour
SOURCE: Site visits conducted in August and September 2001.
a
Depending on education level of the PREP participant.
b
Increased to $8.00 in January, 2002.
c
Depending on phase of program and work-site.
d
The programs in Washington State use the state minimum wage, which is indexed to inflation and increased to $6.90 on
January 1, 2002.
TABLE 1
TRANSITIONAL WORK—HOURS AND WAGES
1
Richer, Elise, and Steve Savner. “Survey of Transitional Employment Programs: Preliminary Findings.” Washington,
DC: Center for Law and Social Policy, May 2001.
alternative because they provide a paycheck and
an environment that supports the transition to work.
Participants gain experience and receive training,
which improves their chances of finding and
keeping unsubsidized employment. The part-time
schedule of most transitional work placements and
the intensive case management provided by program
staff allow individuals to adapt more easily to the
requirements of work and to identify and address
problems as they arise.
Transitional work is not
“make-work.” Transitional
work does more than occupy
people’s time and provide
income: It provides a realistic
experience of looking for and
holding a job. After programs
match participants to
placements that fit their inter-
ests, needs, and circumstances,
participants must complete interviews and other
standard application requirements at the transitional
work site. Once on the job, participants are
closely monitored to ensure they have real responsi-
bilities, receive training, and make contributions to
their employers.
Transitional work is temporary. The goal of
transitional work is to give participants enough time
to gain marketable experience and skills, without
losing the incentive to find permanent employment.
Transitional employment is usually limited to nine
months, and some programs have a goal of moving
participants into permanent employment in as few as
three months.
Transitional work is concentrated in non-profit
organizations. Non-profits are excellent partners for
transitional jobs programs, because they are willing
to provide individualized training and supervision to
participants in exchange for employees that they
would otherwise not be able to afford. Many
programs also use, or would like to use, public and
private placements, which are more likely to lead to
permanent employment. Public and private place-
ments usually require collaboration with employee
unions to ensure that subsidized transitional workers
do not displace unsubsidized employees.
How Do Programs Support
Transitional Workers?
Transitional jobs programs provide different levels
of support, depending on the targeted population and
the resources allocated by the state or locality. Basic
programs concentrate on providing participants with
temporary, paid work experi-
ence. More comprehensive pro-
grams provide a variety of sup-
portive services before, during,
and after the placement. Table 2
lists the services we found in
the six programs.
Assessment. Transitional jobs
programs emphasize rapid
entry into transitional job placements. At most,
clients spend two weeks in pre-placement activities
before beginning their jobs. Only two of the
programs we studied—GoodWorks! and CJ-
Aberdeen—conduct in-depth assessments of all par-
ticipants. The other programs rely on information
passed on by the TANF agency (which can be
extensive) or on informal assessment during discus-
sions with the participant.
Training. Most of the programs provide participants
with some pre-placement training on job search
skills and workplace norms. Some programs also
require participants to complete 4 to 20 hours of
other work-related activities during the transitional
placement. These activities help participants address
barriers to employment, such as limited English,
substance abuse problems, or difficulty with work-
place norms. Research suggests that the combination
of work and education improves participants’ access
to better jobs.
2
Support and supervision. At work, transitional
workers receive more supervision and support than
regular employees. Work site supervisors help them
learn basic skills, acquire good workplace behaviors,
3
2
Strawn, Julie, and Karin Martinson. “Steady Work and Better Jobs: How to Help Low-Income Parents Sustain
Employment and Advance in the Workforce.” New York, NY: Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation, June 2000.
“I’ve never had any job experience in
my life…I’m getting quite a bit out of
it because they’re taking the time to
work with me…they treat you like a
capable employee.”
— Participant in CJ-Aberdeen
and identify leads for unsubsidized jobs. The support
that participants receive from program staff is more
intensive than that in other welfare programs
because of low client-to-staff ratios (generally 25:1)
and high frequency of contact
(generally weekly). Program
staff identify and address per-
sonal barriers to employment,
encourage and reassure partici-
pants, teach life skills and
acceptable workplace behav-
iors, and monitor progress at
the work site. Staff describe their role as “doing
whatever it takes to help people get and keep a job”
and being a “mentor” and “resource tool.”
Supportive services. Transitional jobs programs
tend to rely on existing systems for supportive serv-
ices rather than providing such services directly.
Most transitional jobs participants continue to
receive, for example, child care services, transporta-
tion assistance, Medicaid, and food stamps. Some
programs, such as the Washington CJ programs, dis-
tribute TANF supportive services funds directly to
participants, for items such as car repairs, counsel-
ing, and household supplies. The programs that
allow or encourage participants
to leave TANF provide some
supportive services directly—
including a van service, a
scholarship program, and a car
purchase program.
Job search and retention
services. All transitional workers receive help
searching for unsubsidized employment, but these
services range widely across the programs from
intensive, in-house services to referrals to the TANF
or employment agency for services. Regardless of
the structure of job search services, it is important to
strengthen the link between the transitional job pro-
gram and job placement so that clients perceive and
benefit from continuity in services. Realizing that
finding work is only a first step toward self-
4
Formal Assessments
Drug tests
Criminal background check
Job and basic skill tests
Psychological evaluations
Screens for barriers to employment
Interest inventories
Training
Resume and cover-letter writing
Filling out applications
Interviewing skills
Workplace culture
Life skills
Classes/discussions about health, domestic violence,
substance abuse, and consumer credit
Pre-Placement Services
SOURCE: Site visits conducted in August and September 2001.
TABLE 2
SERVICES AND SUPPORTS PROVIDED THROUGH TRANSITIONAL JOBS PROGRAMS
Services During Placement
Work site supports and mentoring
Case management
Job coaching
Education and job skills training
Supportive services (e.g., transportation passes, money for car repairs, children’s clothes, household supplies)
Services During the Transition to Unsubsidized Employment
Job coaching
Job search assistance
Job development
Job retention follow-up
“The program offers real life working
experience, real money, real
interaction, and real support.”
— PREP program administrator
sufficiency, half the programs offer participants job
retention follow-up—which can include supportive
services, job coaching, and
incentive payments—for as
long as two years.
What Are the Costs,
Perceived Benefits,
and Outcomes of
Transitional Work?
The effectiveness of transitional
jobs programs in preparing TANF recipients for
unsubsidized employment remains an open question.
A rigorous research design to test for program
impacts would be required to address this question.
We can, however, analyze administrative and cost
data to describe gross
program costs and
placement rates. In addi-
tion, this study has gath-
ered rich qualitative data
on the benefits that par-
ticipants feel they derive
from transitional work.
Program costs depend
on the intensity of
program services. The
programs in this study
with the highest costs
provide the most
comprehensive services.
Wage costs represent a
sizable portion of total
costs for most of the
programs, but they
comprise a smaller
portion of costs in the
programs with more
intensive services
(Figure 1). The cost of
core program services ranges from $379 to $1,871
per participant month.
3
When average length of
participation is considered,
transitional work services cost
between $2,011 and $14,406
per participant.
4
This range
depends largely on whether
programs provide participants
with training activities before
and during the placement and
with retention follow-up
after they leave the program. Four of the programs
have total core service costs that are lower than the
costs of other labor force attachment programs for
welfare recipients.
5
3
In order to remove length of participation as a factor in determining per client costs, we calculated “participant
months” by summing the monthly number of participants across all months in the cost analysis period. “Core service” is
defined as any service that is delivered to all participants in the transitional job program.
4
Total service costs are the per participant month cost of services multiplied by the average length of program partici-
pation (shown in Table 3).
$2,000
$1,500
$1,000
$500
$0
$701
$856
$749
$1,593
$287
$1,871
$520
$1,305
$590
$519
$534
$379
PREP
CJP-San Francisco
GoodWorks! Augusta
TWC
CJ-Aberdeen
CJ-Tacoma
Wages
Services
Costs Per Participant Month
FIGURE 1
PROGRAM COSTS
SOURCE: Cost data provided by the individual programs.
Periods of analysis: For PREP, CJ-Aberdeen, CJ-Tacoma, and
CJP-San Francisco from July 1, 2000 to June 30, 2001; for TWC, January 1, 2000 to
December 31, 2000; for GoodWorks!, April 1, 2001 to September 30, 2001.
“It’s a win-win situation. They’re
(the participants) benefiting, we’re
benefiting, and the taxpayers,
in general, are benefiting.”
— Work site supervisor,
Aberdeen Community Jobs Program
Participants feel they benefit financially,
professionally, and personally. Although this study
cannot show whether participants in transitional jobs
programs are better off than they would have been
without the program, participants do report shifts in
their lives consistent with the
program objectives. The net
income of transitional
workers—including work
earnings, Earned Income Tax
Credit, and, in some cases, a
TANF grant—often rises. Many
transitional workers learn specific occupational
skills—including working with customers,
landscaping, forklift operation, cashiering, food
preparation, and clerical skills (e.g., filing, using a
computer or fax machine, and handling multi-phone
lines). Participants repeatedly said that transitional
work added structure to their lives, increased
their motivation to find permanent employment, and
contributed to a new sense of confidence and
self-worth.
Transitional jobs can benefit participating work
sites and TANF agencies. Transitional workers
provide staff resources that can contribute to the
productivity of their work sites. This benefit is
particularly attractive to organizations that cannot
afford to hire sufficient permanent staff. Transitional
jobs programs also help local TANF agencies by
reducing the caseloads of TANF
staff or, at least, reducing the
number of clients who need
high levels of attention. The
programs have the potential to
benefit the TANF system in the
long-run if they are able to help
participants become self-sufficient and leave public
assistance permanently.
Transitional jobs programs are successful
at placing consistent participants
in unsubsidized employment. While not all
transitional workers successfully complete their
program, those who do are usually placed in
unsubsidized employment (Table 3). Overall, about
50 percent of participants in the studied programs
are successful completers, either working through
the full placement period or gaining unsubsidized
employment before the placement ends. Depending
6
Average length in
program (months) 3.1 6.5 7.7 3.4 6.2 5.3
Percentage of
Successful
Completions 53.6 57.3 82.2 51.5 48.8 38.6
Percentage placed
in unsubsidized
employment
All participants 48.2 46.7 70.3 48.5 n/a n/a
Completers 89.9 81.4 85.5 94.0 n/a n/a
PREP CJP GoodWorks! TWC CJ CJ
Forrest City, AR San Francisco, CA Augusta, GA Philadelphia, PA Aberdeen, WA Tacoma, WA
SOURCE: MIS data provided by the individual programs
Data in this table are based on enrolled clients using each program’s definition of enrollment and measured only for clients
with completed participation spells. The period of analysis is from each program’s inception to the date of the most recent
data available.
TABLE 3
LENGTH OF PARTICIPATION, COMPLETION AND PLACEMENT RATES
“[Transitional work] opened the door
and showed me that I can get and
hold a job of my own.”
— A PREP participant
on the program, between 81 to 94 percent of this
group (or about one-half to two-thirds of all
participants) are placed in unsubsidized employment
by the end of the program.
Placement rates cannot be determined from the
Washington CJ program data, because, until recently,
these programs did not systemat-
ically collect information on this
outcome. Based on earnings data,
the Washington State Department
of Social and Human Services
reports employment rates of 58
and 59 percent among CJ partici-
pants in Aberdeen and Tacoma,
respectively.
What is the Future
of Transitional Jobs
Programs?
Transitional job programs are a promising and
flexible approach to serving the hard-to-employ.
The six programs in this study illustrate the flexibility
of the transitional jobs model and its potential for
serving the hard-to-employ. The combination of paid
work, direct services, and support provided by
transitional jobs programs provides an opportunity
for welfare recipients to identify and work through
the barriers they face to steady employment. The
programs in this study are best equipped to deal with
participants’ lack of work experience, basic job and
life skills, and logistical barriers to work. Programs
have struggled, however, with addressing the more
severe personal and family issues that can be
formidable hurdles to steady employment. The more
intensive and flexible programs are more likely to
deal with the full range of barriers to employment
that participants may face, but they also cost more.
States and localities developing transitional jobs
programs should consider the targeted population and
the program’s goals in determining the intensity and
cost of the approach they will take.
Because of its flexibility, the transitional jobs model
has been promoted as an approach that could help
other populations besides welfare recipients. A transi-
tional jobs program designed for non-TANF recipients
would have to consider carefully how to provide sup-
portive services without links to the welfare system.
In times of economic uncertainty, it might also be
tempting to consider transitional jobs as an approach
to job creation. However, the model’s emphasis on
small caseloads and intensive case management limits
its capacity and usefulness as a
broader job creation program.
More definitive research is
needed on participant
outcomes and net costs of
transitional jobs program.
Some studies, including this one,
have shown that transitional jobs
are a promising approach for
moving hard-to-employ TANF
recipients into the work force
and toward self-sufficiency.
However, because these are
relatively new programs there remains little rigorous
experimental research evidence on the relative
effectiveness of transitional jobs programs at
improving the employment outcomes of participants,
the relative benefits and costs, and the importance of
the various components of the programs.
Experimental evaluations of transitional jobs
programs could isolate the effects of transitional jobs
on participants’ employment outcomes and allow
comparisons with other employment programs. Useful
tests might include comparing a wage-paid transition-
al jobs program to a work experience program (which
does not pay a wage) or comparing a program that
provides intensive support services to one that focuses
primarily on the job placement. An experimental eval-
uation could also isolate and quantify program bene-
fits and compare them more carefully to costs.
The future of transitional jobs programs depends
heavily on the availability of funding. At the
time programs in this study emerged, substantial
resources—from both the TANF and
Welfare-to-Work funding streams—were available to
serve the hard-to-employ TANF population. With
Welfare-to-Work funding ending in 2002 and TANF
funds being tied to reauthorization, changes in the
7
“I’ve accomplished more in the
last seven months than I have in the
last seven years. I got a GED, was
placed in a wonderful job site,
have possible full-time employment
[opportunities] … I’ve got a reason
to get up everyday, a purpose,
somewhere to go.”
— A participant in the
Tacoma Community Jobs program
economy, and caseload levels, the funding outlook
for transitional jobs programs is uncertain. There is a
risk that these programs may end before they have
had the opportunity to mature and undergo more
rigorous evaluation. If further state or federal fund-
ing were allocated for transitional jobs programs, it
would be advantageous to incorporate research and
evaluation into the funding requirements.
This study was conducted by Mathematica Policy Research, Inc., with funding from the Rockefeller and Charles
Stewart Mott Foundations. The research examined the structure, operations, costs, perceived benefits, and out-
comes of six transitional jobs programs for welfare recipients. MPR analyzed qualitative data collected during
site visit interviews and focus groups, and quantitative administrative and cost data provided by the programs
and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families.
A full report from this study is available on Mathematica’s web site at www.mathematica-mpr.com.
For more information on the Study of Wage-Paid Transitional Employment Programs, contact Gretchen Kirby
or LaDonna Pavetti at Mathematica Policy Research, Inc., (202) 484-9220.
THE STUDY OF WAGE-PAID TRANSITIONAL EMPLOYMENT PROGRAMS
Visit the Mathematica
web site at:
www.mathematica-mpr.com
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