An Introduction to the World of Work: A Study of the Implementation and Impacts of New York City’s…

“This report examines the impacts of the nation’s largest summer youth jobs program — New York City’s Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP) — on young people’s education, employment, and earnings” (p.iii).

“SYEP offers people ages 14 to 24 minimum-wage, entry-level jobs with public and private employers across the city, and educational workshops on work readiness, financial literacy, career exploration, postsecondary (college) education, and personal health. The program lasts six to seven weeks in July and August, and offers up to 25 hours of paid work and educational services each week” (p.ES-2-ES-3).

“Like other summer jobs programs, SYEP largely focuses on short-term goals, including reducing youth unemployment during the summer, introducing participants to the world of work, and providing participants and their families with income. The program also seeks to improve participants’ long-term employment prospects by helping them develop work-appropriate soft skills and life skills, and by helping them understand their higher education and career options” (p.ES-3).

“[The] evaluation…includes a sample of nearly 265,000 young people who applied to SYEP for the first time between 2006 and 2010. The analysis uses an experimental design that relies on SYEP’s randomized lottery application system” (p.iii).

“This study’s implementation analysis relies on data collected in 2015 from interviews with DYCD staff members, a survey of and interviews with provider staff members, focus groups and interviews with program participants, and interviews with people who applied to SYEP but did not participate” (p.ES-3).

“The [impact] analysis examines…three sets of outcomes [for youth who won the application lottery]: employment and earnings during the summer following the initial application; employment and earnings over the five years thereafter; and educational outcomes (high school attendance and completion as well as college enrollment and graduation)” (p.ES-6).

(Abstractor: Author)

Full publication title: An Introduction to the World of Work A Study of the Implementation and Impacts of New York City’s Summer Youth Employment Program

“SYEP’s large scale greatly shapes its implementation. The program is an enormous undertaking, and it can be challenging to provide every participant with a meaningful work experience. The types and quality of SYEP work experiences vary considerably, even within the same job sector and industry. SYEP had large impacts on young people’s employment and earnings during the summer for which they applied, but it had little impact beyond that summer. Young people who won places in the program through the lottery were 54 percentage points more likely to be employed and earned $580 more during that summer, on average, than those who did not” (p.ES-1). “SYEP did not affect high school or college outcomes. SYEP did not increase the number of school days young people attended during Follow-Up Year 1…nor did it increase their likelihood of graduating on time from high school….Similarly, SYEP did not increase college enrollment or graduation in the five years after the application summer” (p.ES-8). “In the first half of each year, the SYEP providers and DYCD prepare for the program’s July start by identifying and screening work sites, hiring and training staff members, and conducting youth outreach. To do so they make use of an infrastructure of work sites, community partnerships, and awareness about SYEP that has built up over the program’s long history” (p.ES-4). “The broader evidence base for youth employment programs suggests that improving longer-term outcomes for young people would require additional, more costly program components that respond to their needs….However, it may be very difficult for a program as large as SYEP to add such services” (p.ES-10). “The findings in this report suggest that when assessing SYEP’s success and making decisions about its future, it is important to consider a tension that exists between the program’s short- and long-term goals. As a mechanism for creating thousands of jobs and providing additional income to participants, SYEP is very successful. In considering changes designed to improve the long-term impacts of SYEP or similar programs, funders and practitioners will want to seek solutions that do not unintentionally jeopardize the program’s ability to meet this primary short-term goal” (p.ES-11). (Abstractor: Author)

• Last Updated:
• Created:
• Resource Publication Date: 2017
• Author(s): Valentine, Erin J.; Anderson, Chloe; Hossain, Farhana; Unterman, Rebecca.
• Organizational Author(s): MDRC
• Funding Source: U.S. Department of Labor
• Resource Availability: Publicly available
• Posted by: Wesley Peterson
• Posted in: Workforce System Strategies