The longer term outcomes of Work-Based Learning for
Adults: Evidence from administrative data
Research Report No. 390
by Stefan Speckesser and Helen Bewley
Work Based Learning for Adults (WBLA) is a voluntary programme
designed to help long-term jobless people on a range of benefits
move into sustained employment. The programme provides four
different types of training ('opportunities'):
Short Job-Focused Training (SJFT).
Longer Occupational Training (LOT).
Basic Employability Training (BET).
Self-Employment Provision (SEP).
This report presents new, longer-term evaluation results based
on administrative data for three opportunities of WBLA, SJFT, LOT
and BET. The evidence found for the long-term outcomes of WBLA is
mixed for the different opportunities of the programme evaluated
here:
SJFT results in significant improvement in participants'
employment outcomes in the long-run with an average increase in
the employment rate of five percentage points and more
sustainable, longer first employment spells.
LOT shows significantly positive employment effects only for
a period very long after the beginning. However, an effect of
reducing the benefit rate in the long-run comparable to the one
found for SJFT was not found.
The participation in BET leads to higher benefit rates in the
long-run and participants show a benefit rate that is 15
percentage points above the level of comparable non-participants
40 months after participation in BET began. When applying a
difference-in-differences estimator, BET participation shows an
improvement in the employment rates for participants of around
three percentage points.
October 2006
ISBN 1 84712 097 0
