Job Corps

High Costs and Mixed Results Raise Questions About Program's Effectiveness Gao ID: HEHS-95-180 June 30, 1995

Job Corps is an employment and training program that seeks to provide severely disadvantaged youth with a comprehensive array of services, generally in a residential setting. Run by the Labor Department, Job Corps directly funds public, private, and nonprofit groups that operate local centers. Job Corps is the most expensive federal youth employment and training program, with current appropriations of about $1 billion. Although the administration has proposed expanding the program, concerns have been raised by Congress, Labor's Inspector General, and others about the program's effectiveness and high cost. This report provides information on (1) whom the program is serving and the services provided, (2) the outcomes the program is achieving in relation to the program's cost and employers' satisfaction with Job Corps students they hire, and (3) Labor's use of national contractors to provide vocational training.

GAO found that: (1) Job Corps services severely disadvantaged youth and provides them with comprehensive services in a residential setting; (2) 68 percent of the students that left Job Corps in 1994 encountered several barriers to employment, such as not having a high school diploma, lacking basic skills, receiving public assistance, and having limited English proficiency; (3) 20 percent of Job Corps' funds were spent on basic education and vocational skills training in 1994; (4) Job Corps students that complete vocational training are five times more likely to get higher paying, training-related jobs; (5) most employers are generally satisfied with Job Corps students' basic work habits and the technical training provided by the Job Corps program; (6) only moderate differences exist between the job placement rates of national contractors and Job Corps training providers; and (7) the continued use of national contractors as training providers is not cost-effective because they account for nearly one-third of Job Corps' vocational training expenditures and the training they provide is primarily in a declining occupational category.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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