Work and Welfare in Massachusetts: An Evaluation of the ET Program. Pioneer Paper No. 3.

This evaluation of Massachusett's Employment and Training Choices (ET) program indicates that instead of saving taxpayers money, the program has been costly and has contributed little or nothing to reduce the state's welfare caseload. ET offers welfare recipients a wide variety of employment services, including career planning and job search, training in basic skills and job skills, and child care. Program expenditures in 1988 were considerably higher than in other states offering employment and training programs. Two statistical analyses were used to examine program effects on the welfare caseload and the work and welfare participation of single mothers, the program's target population. The following key findings are included: (1) no significant reduction occurred in the caseload; (2) work participation among single mothers did not increase; and (3) possible recovery of only 13 percent of program costs. The following recommendations are made: (1) shift focus away from maximizing numbers of job placements at priority wages toward assisting inexperienced and difficult-to-place workers by modifying the reward structure for contractors and eliminating the wage floor for priority jobs; (2) make participation mandatory; and (3) shift emphasis from high-cost formal day care to more flexible and lower-cost alternatives that could be made available to a larger number of working mothers. Statistical data are appended in 28 tables and 3 graphs. A 54-item bibliography, a glossary, and 6 tables of statistical data are appended. (FMW)