In the past three decades, broad economic shifts have sharply decreased the availability of good jobs for workers without postsecondary education. Disadvantaged men have been particularly hard hit by these trends. Many of these men become enmeshed in the criminal justice and child support enforcement systems, which are increasingly focusing on how to help their “clients” find and hold jobs.

The Enhanced Transitional Jobs Demonstration (ETJD), sponsored by the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) in the U.S. Department of Labor, is designed to fund and rigorously test employment programs targeting noncustodial parents and individuals recently released from prison. MDRC is leading the evaluation, along with its partners, Abt Associates and MEF Associates. The project will build on recent studies of transitional jobs programs, which have shown mixed results. Thus, programs funded in the ETJD project will include specific enhancements designed to yield stronger results. MDRC is also conducting the Subsidized and Transitional Job Demonstration, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which focuses on programs serving parents who are directly or indirectly connected to the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program.