Educationally Disadvantaged Older Youth: Vocational Training

Job training, by definition, prepares individuals for employment. Evidence indicates that programs with employment as a goal are successful at increasing the amount of vocational training received by participants. Job Corps participants spent more hours in training and received more services than youths in the control group (JC1, JC2): on average, participants spent 4.5 hours per week in training, whereas youths in the control group spent 1 hour (JC1). Participants were also considerably more likely to earn a vocational certificate (JC1, JC2). Similarly, participants in the Teenage Parent Demonstration were more likely to participate in vocational training and participated for more hours than those in the control group (TPD1). Two exceptions were New Chance and Youth Corps. Participants in New Chance were just as likely as youths in the control group to earn a trade license or certificate (NC1), and Youth Corps participants were less likely than the control group to earn a technical certificate or diploma (YC). Nevertheless, two of the four programs that examined job training were able to improve employability through job training.