2017 - 2021
The primary goal of this project was to identify gaps in knowledge of employment and training approaches for low-income populations and recipients of social safety net benefits by convening a roundtable of subject matter experts to discuss the status of and gaps in the research and by producing a series of complementary white papers.
The roundtable was held in January 2019 and gathered policymakers, employers, researchers, and practitioners to discuss the status of and future directions for research on improving the economic prospects of low-income populations. In 2020 the project published, Employment and Training Programs Serving Low-Income Populations: Next Steps for Research, which synthesizes themes from the roundtable, summarizes what is known from past and current research, identifies knowledge gaps, and proposes a set of potential research questions that can help define future research opportunities.
The project also developed three additional white papers. The first focuses on potential changes in the labor market and nature of work over the next 10 to 15 years and implications for research on employment and training programs supporting low-income workers. The final two papers identify approaches from fields not typically drawn on in this field of research that present opportunities to potentially strengthen the design, delivery, and effectiveness of employment and training programs through research and evaluation.
OPRE may draw on this knowledge as it considers potential future directions for its research and evaluation portfolio.
The project was conducted by MEF Associates in partnership with MDRC.
Point(s) of contact: Hilary Bruck and Lauren Deutsch.