Russel Sage Foundation

Since the War on Poverty, many workforce development programs have aimed to alleviate racial/ethnic disparities in employment. Studies on these programs have focused on supply-side interventions that focus on making job seekers more attractive to employers. Skills for Chicagoland’s Future (Skills) is a demand-driven workforce development program that works with employers to understand their hiring and skill needs, company culture, and long-term workforce goals and recruits unemployed and underemployed workers for these roles. Economists Evan Rose and Hsi-Ling Liao will evaluate employee outcomes for employees placed in jobs via Skills. They will conduct surveys and a randomized controlled trial and will analyze data from the Illinois Department of Employment Security for their study.