CETA Programs for Disadvantaged Adults

With the impending expiration of the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act and persisting unemployment, GAO reviewed four types of adult-oriented service: classroom training, on-the-job training, work experience, and public service employment.

GAO found that: (1) CETA adult-oriented services were well targeted. The enrollees were generally disadvantaged economically, educationally, and with regard to employment stability; (2) outcomes differed for the four services examined, but these differences coincided with variations in occupational areas and the characteristics of participants; (3) on the average, early participants were better off after CETA than before in terms of increased employment and earnings and reduced reliance on public benefits; (4) because of limited data, the effectiveness of CETA can be addressed only in terms of earnings. Only earnings inprovement can be attributed to CETA, but people with poor earnings histories appear to have profited more than other groups as a result of the program.