Office Of Refugee Resettlement: Data

Annual ORR Reports to Congress - 1997

I. ORR'S REFUGEE RESETTLEMENT PROGRAM

Partnerships to Improve Employment and Self-Sufficiency Outcomes

State Outcome Goal Plans

In FY 1997, the Office of Refugee Resettlement undertook a joint effort with States to improve State performance in refugee employment and self-sufficiency outcomes. States and California counties have since been required to establish annual outcome goals aimed at continuous improvement of performance along the following six outcome measures:

Entered Employments, defined as the entry of a refugee into unsubsidized employment.

Terminations Due to Earnings, defined as the termination of a cash assistance case (RCA, TANF, general assistance) due to earned income.

Reductions Due to Earnings, defined as a reduction in the amount of cash assistance that a case receives as a result of earned income.

Average Wage at Placement, calculated as the sum of the hourly wages for the full-time placements divided by the total number of individuals placed in employment.

Job Retentions, defined as the number of persons working for wages (in any unsubsidized job) on the 90^th day after placement. This is a measure of continued participation in the labor market, not retention of a specific job.

Entered Employments with Health Benefits, defined as a job placement with health benefits offered within six months of employment, regardless of whether the refugee actually accepts the coverage offered.

ORR tracked State and county performance throughout the year. The FY 1997 performance was as follows:

Entered Employments totaled 46,800, a 6 percent decline from the number recorded in FY 1996 (49,543).

Terminations due to Earnings totaled 14,948, a 22 percent rise from FY 1996 (11,609).

Reductions due to Earnings totaled 5,411, a 13 percent decline from FY 1996 (6,208).

Average Wage At Placement ($6.49) rose 14 percent from FY 1996 ($5.65).

Employment Retentions (34,409) exceeded FY 1996 (33,139) by 4 percent.

Entered Employments with Health Benefits reached 25,187, a 6 percent rise from FY 1996 (23,770).

These performance measure outcomes must be viewed in the overall context of declining arrival numbers. Although the number of job placements declined modestly, the quality of the placements showed marked improvement. For example, 74 percent of refugees who found employment retained their employment for 90 days, compared with only 67 percent in FY 1996. Similarly, 32 percent of placements resulted in cash assistance terminations, half again as many as the year before. Sixty-eight percent of full-time placements offered health insurance, compared with only 48 percent the year before.

Twenty-one States and four California counties exceeded their placements from last year. Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, South Dakota, and Utah exceeded their placements last year by more than a third, as did San Diego County.

Fifteen States and six California counties increased the number of cash assistance terminations over the previous year. Two States (New Hampshire and Vermont) reported that every job placement terminated assistance, while in Nebraska, all but two of its 282 placements did so.

Twenty-four States and three California counties improved the job retention rate over the previous year. In 26 States and 3 counties, more than three-quarters of job placements were retained for 90 days or more. Retention rates of over 90 percent were reported in Arkansas, Indiana, Kansas, New Hampshire, North Carolina, and Wisconsin. Among larger States, retention rates exceed 80 percent in Georgia, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Virginia. Among California counties, Contra Costa, Los Angeles, and Orange Counties recorded high rates of retention.

FY 1997 saw improvement in the quality of jobs found for refugees. Forty-two States and seven California counties reported higher wages at placement than in FY 1996. Rhode Island ($8.17) and Delaware ($8.13) reported the highest average wage at placement. Seven others reported average wage at placement of $7.00 or above-Connecticut, Illinois, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, and San Francisco County in California.

Refugees found employment not only at higher wages, but also with more benefits. Twenty-seven States and seven California counties increased their rates of health benefit availability over FY 1996. Several States with large refugee populations improved their performance significantly. Arizona's rate rose from 36 percent to 89 percent, New York's from 52 percent to 72 percent, and Tennessee's from 42 percent to 83 percent. Arkansas found health insurance for 52 of its 54 job placements (96 percent). Seven other States-Hawaii, Indiana, Maryland, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio, Rhode Island-and Alameda County reported that at least 90 percent of its entered employments included health benefits. In 16 other States, at least 80 percent of refugees found employment with health benefits available.

ORR also tracked the cost per job placement in each State and California county. This measure is the ratio of the total employment service funds used by the State for employment services divided by the number of entered employments recorded during the fiscal year. The State average unit cost was $1,559 per job placement. The range was quite wide, however, from a low of $291 per placement (Missouri) to a high of $9,333 per placement (Delaware). In California counties, unit costs ranged from $1,184 per placement (Merced) to $6,769 per placement (San Francisco). California's overall average unit cost was $2,424.

Some States earned favorable outcomes with a unit cost less than one-third of the national average: Missouri ($291), Indiana ($333), South Carolina ($396), Utah ($459), Idaho ($484), and Louisiana ($497). Among larger States, Arizona ($489), Iowa ($552), Georgia ($654), and Oregon ($791) recorded good outcomes and low unit costs.

Shown below is a summary of the FY 1996 and FY 1997 outcomes by State. The caseload presented for each State and county consists of the number of refugees with whom a service provider had regular and direct involvement during the fiscal year in planned employment-related activities for the purpose of assisting the refugee to find or retain employment. For terminations, reductions, and retentions, each goal and outcome is also described as a percentage of entered employments. Some States opted to express terminations and reductions as a percentage of refugee cash assistance recipients who entered employment, rather than as a percentage of all entered employments. Health benefit availability is presented as a percentage of full-time entered employments.

Alabama	FY 1996		FY 1997

Caseload	160		147
Entered Employments	139		74
Terminations	6	4 %	8	24 %
Reductions	20	14 %	0	0 %
Average Wage	$5.00		$5.01
Retentions	117	84 %	42	57 %
Health Benefits	37	27 %	24	45 %

In Alabama, arriving refugees seldom go on assistance. Its entered employments thus produced few cash assistance terminations and reductions.

Arizona	FY 1996		FY 1997

Caseload	1,699		1,545
Entered Employments	849	50 %	1,041	67 %
Terminations	342	40 %	422		41 %
Reductions Average Wage Retentions Health Benefits	9 $5.19 442 306	1 % 52 % 36 %	6 $5.99 815 922		1 % 78 % 89 %

Arkansas	FY 1996

Caseload	71		61
Entered Employments	62		54
Terminations	10	48 %	9	100 %
Reductions Average Wage Retentions Health Benefits	0 $5.90 58 62	0 % 94 % 100 %	0 $6.45 51 52	0 % 94 % 96 %

All refugees who entered employment earned enough income to terminate assistance.

Colorado	FY 1996

Caseload	1,142		961
Entered Employments	575		602
Terminations	207	43 %	189	35 %
Reductions Average Wage Retentions Health Benefits	38 $6.48 323 463	8 % 56 % 92 %	49 $6.63 584 459	9 % 89 % 83 %

Colorado expresses cash assistance terminations and reductions as a percentage of cash assistance recipients who entered employment, rather than all refugees who entered employment.

Connecticut	FY 1996

Caseload	818		752
Entered Employments	531		479
Terminations	132	25 %	113	24 %
Reductions Average Wage Retentions Health Benefits	82 $6.62 329 201	15 % 76 % 38 %	60 $7.33 373 230	13 % 78 % 62 %

Delaware

FY 1996			FY 1997

Caseload	19		21
Entered Employments	8		6
Terminations	5	63 %	5	83 %
Reductions Average Wage Retentions Health Benefits	0 $7.16 4 4	0 % 67 % 57 %	0 $8.13 3 1	0 % 50 % 50 %

No reductions were reported because all refugees on cash assistance at placement were terminated from cash assistance.

Dist. of Columbia	FY 1996

Caseload	678		500
Entered Employments	304		227
Terminations	35	12 %	219	96 %
Reductions Average Wage Retentions Health Benefits	0 % $6.32 269 209	0 % 88 % 77 %	8 $6.62 139 144	4 % 61 % 63 %

Florida	FY 1996

Caseload	18,569		13,185
Entered Employments	7,097		7,044
Terminations	130	2 %	4,889	69 %
Reductions Average Wage Retentions Health Benefits	0 $5.22 4,871 3,174	0 % 69 % 46 %	7 $5.62 5,046 3,265	1 % 72 % 48 %

Due to low assistance payment levels, almost all refugees who enter employment terminate assistance.

Georgia	FY 1996

Caseload	2,207		1,842
Entered Employments	1,214		1,142
Terminations	116	10 %	257	23 %
Reductions Average Wage Retentions Health Benefits	0 $6.02 847 829	0 % 70 % 68 %	4 $6.55 952 821	0 % 83 % 72 %

The number of terminations is low because many refugees find work before applying for assistance.

Hawaii	FY 1996

Caseload	117		121
Entered Employments	100		46
Terminations	64	64 %	27	59 %
Reductions Average Wage Retentions Health Benefits	28 $5.55 50 75	28 % 50 % 93 %	15 $6.2829 31	33 % 63 % 92 %

Idaho	FY 1996

Caseload	375		350
Entered Employments	211		238
Terminations	142	67 %	147	62 %
Reductions Average Wage Retentions Health Benefits	3 $5.63 173 158	1 % 82 % 92 %	3 $5.98 184 162	1 % 77 % 76 %

Idaho's benefit amount is very low; therefore, most full-time placements result in termination, rather than in a reduction of benefits.

Illinois	FY 1996

Caseload	6,822		5,922
Entered Employments	2,797		2,718
Terminations	580	43 %	703	56 %
Reductions Average Wage Retentions Health Benefits	468 $6.93 1,286 808	35 % 48 % 30 %	411 $7.28 1,807 951	32 % 66 % 51 %

Illinois has presented its data on reductions and terminations as a percentage of cash assistance recipients who entered employment.

Indiana	FY 1996		FY 1997

Caseload	428		682
Entered Employments	250		300
Terminations	68	57 %	130	43 %
Reductions Average Wage Retentions Health Benefits	4 $6.27 192 191	0 % 77 % 84 %	0 $6.43 288 250	0 % 96 % 93 %

Although its goals were established based on unduplicated data, Indiana's outcome data for FY 1996 and FY 1997 include duplicated data reported by quarter. Unduplicated totals will be available in FY 1998. The number of cash assistance reductions is under-reported for FY 1996 and FY 1997 because the State's computers do not capture benefit reductions.

Iowa	FY 1996

Caseload	1,569		1,100
Entered Employments	741		1,023
Terminations	349	47 %	294	29 %
Reductions Average Wage Retentions Health Benefits	62 $5.86 669 438	8 % 87 % 75 %	90 $6.26 659 508	9 % 64 % 57 %

In Iowa, welfare recipients may receive an unreduced check for up to four months after employment begins. As a consequence, the State recorded relatively few reductions and terminations.

Kansas	FY 1996

Caseload	898		755
Entered Employments	689		546
Terminations	217	31 %	108	20 %
Reductions Average Wage Retentions Health Benefits	16 $6.65 644 464	2 % 93 % 81 %	12 $7.29 521 411	2 % 95 % 83 %

Louisiana	FY 1996

Caseload	714		280
Entered Employments	508		238
Terminations	85	17 %	29	12 %
Reductions Average Wage Retentions Health Benefits	0 $4.93 321 132	0 % 74 % 28 %	0 $5.36 228 69	0 % 79 % 31 %

The number of terminations was lower than anticipated because many clients did not access cash assistance, but were placed directly into employment. No reductions were reported because Louisiana pays cash assistance at a level where any income from employment makes the client wholly ineligible for cash assistance.

Maine	FY 1996

Caseload	190		181
Entered Employments	104		107
Terminations	34	33 %	11	41 %
Reductions Average Wage Retentions Health Benefits	31 $5.80 76 48	30 % 73 % 77 %	9 $6.00 78 42	8 % 87 % 57 %

Many jobs are of a temporary and seasonal nature and therefore do not result in cash assistance terminations.

Maryland	FY 1996

Caseload	1,304		894
Entered Employments	596		479
Terminations	118	20 %	60	51 %
Reductions Average Wage Retentions Health Benefits	0 $6.14 506 434	0 % 85 % 84 %	0 $6.45 357 336	0 % 71 % 90 %

The State's cash assistance information system is not yet able to identify refugee reductions in cash assistance due to earnings.

Massachusetts	FY 1996

Caseload	1,807		1,800
Entered Employments	1,230		1,159
Terminations	584	44 %	521	45 %
Reductions Average Wage Retentions Health Benefits	366 $6.87 622 817	14 % 60 % 63 %	192 $7.58 838 664	16 % 72 % 78 %

Michigan	FY 1996

Caseload	1,989		2,491
Entered Employments	1,269			1,775
Terminations	241	45 %		181	25 %
Reductions Average Wage Retentions Health Benefits	153 $6.24