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In the aftermath of the Great Recession of 2007-2009, youth unemployment in the United States reached its highest level since the Second World War. Only about half of young people ages 16 to 24 held jobs in 2013, and recent estimates suggest that about one in five people in this age range were neither working nor in school. This paper draws from an MDRC review of literature on labor market trends and employment-related programs for youth over the past 30 years. It aims to inform the search for demand-side solutions by providing a better understanding of: (1) factors that potentially drive high rates of unemployment among young adults; (2) the current state of evidence on employment-related interventions for youth, especially economically disadvantaged youth; and (3) future directions for change that involve stronger employer involvement. An appendix presents: "Selected Rigorous Evaluations of Job-Related Programs for Youth."

In 2008, New York City''s Center for Economic Opportunity (CEO) launched the Young Adult Literacy (YAL) program to improve the academic and work-readiness skills of youth who are not in school, do not have a job, and have very low literacy skills. The YAL program targets 16- to 24-year-old young adults who read at the fourth-through eighth-grade levels, and serves them until they are academically ready to enter a program that prepares them for a high school equivalency (HSE) certificate. In the summer of 2013, MDRC conducted an implementation study of five YAL sites in order to explore factors that facilitate or challenge successful program implementation. This report presents the findings, which are largely based on an analysis of qualitative data from staff interviews, participant focus groups, and observations of classrooms and internships, as well as a review of program participation data. The following are appended: (1) Glossary of Widely Used Terms and Acronyms; (2) Supplementary Tables on the Common Core State Standards and Balanced Literacy; and (3) Side-by-Side Comparison of Program Implementation at the Study Sites.

Many U.S. military veterans have mental and physical disabilities that can increase their risk of substance abuse, social isolation, unemployment, and homelessness. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have made it urgently necessary to address these issues once again as the nation faces “the largest wave of returning veterans with disabilities in recent history.” One in four veterans of these conflicts reports a service-connected disability, and unemployment among the youngest subset of veterans is particularly high. Veterans with disabilities need quality programs to help them get on a path to work and reintegrate into their communities. But there is limited evidence about what interventions can effectively help them do so. Past research suggests that symptoms and impairments explain only a part of what prevents people with disabilities from working, and that people with disabilities'' own beliefs and attitudes about their conditions often keep them from gainful employment. Similarly, researchers at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) have suggested in personal interviews that disabled veterans'' attitudes and beliefs about disability present at least as big a barrier to their ability to return to work as their actual physical or mental conditions. Drawing on its experience in disability, behavioral, and employment research, MDRC began testing the Progressive Goal Attainment Program (PGAP) for Veterans in 2012, in collaboration with the VA Connecticut Healthcare System. PGAP is a behavioral intervention for people struggling with a wide range of physical and mental health conditions. The program complements clinical services for the treatment of disabilities by specifically targeting psychological and social behaviors that contribute to pain, disability, and inactivity. The goal is to help those with disabilities resume daily activities and get them on a path to work. The PGAP demonstration in the VA Connecticut Healthcare System was designed to explore how feasible it is to implement the program in a veteran service setting. In the coming year MDRC will also test PGAP for Veterans in several locations in Houston, Texas, including the VA hospital and two local community providers.

Youth development is a cornerstone of the YouthBuild program, which provides job skills training, academic support, counseling, and leadership opportunities to low-income, out-of-school young adults. This report presents findings from two separate research efforts that shed light on the process of youth transformation and identity development in YouthBuild. The first paper, "A Framework for Understanding Identity Development: Findings from YouthBuild Programs," written in 1997 by Ronald F. Ferguson and Jason Snipes, is based on a formative evaluation of early YouthBuild programs between 1991 and 1994. In that evaluation, participants described themselves as more efficacious, optimistic, and morally upright after participating in the program for a year. Young adults whom Ferguson and Snipes interviewed spoke often of deep personal transformations not only in their own identities but also in relationships with friends, family, and community. The second paper, "Transforming Youth from the Inside Out Program: Directors'' Views of YouthBuild''s Potential," presents the findings from a 2014 survey of YouthBuild program directors across the country and shows that the themes Ferguson and Snipes set forth continue to resonate.

In the past four decades, profound changes in the U.S. economy--including falling wages, widening inequality, and the polarization of jobs at the top and bottom of the education and wage distributions--have had dramatic implications for the labor-market fortunes of young adults. Only about half of young people ages 16 to 24 held jobs in 2014, and about one in five people in this age range were neither working nor in school. The problem is most severe for disadvantaged groups, including less educated, low-income, and minority young people, especially young men of color. Most efforts to improve employment outcomes for young people have focused on supply-side strategies such as education, training, work experience, or developmental activities. MDRC recently conducted an extensive review of literature on labor-market trends and employment-related programs for young people, and identified some common features of successful supply-side programs. Yet hiring practices have continued to evolve since much of the research covered in the review was done, and new approaches may be necessary to address those changes. Stakeholders interested in improving the employment outlook of young people on a large scale are increasingly interested in demand-side approaches--that is, engaging employers to take action on this issue. New research is needed into what types of demand-side interventions can be successful. Given the magnitude of the unemployment problem facing young adults, potential solutions need to be adopted on a greater scale than the programs in the literature review generally contemplated. With all these issues in mind, on June 4, 2014, MDRC and The Rockefeller Foundation convened a group of academics and experts to discuss potential demand-side approaches to youth employment. The wide-ranging conversation reflected the diverse backgrounds of the attendees, who contributed insights from the worlds of education, economics, business, and social policy. This report discusses the following themes that emerged from the conversation: (1) Employers are a heterogeneous group with diverse needs, goals, and preferences; (2) Employers may respond to financial incentives, but incentives are not likely to be the only force motivating their decisions, and wage subsidies have actually been shown to stigmatize groups of workers; (3) Employers are more likely to engage in youth employment efforts if it is easy for them to do so, and if they believe it is a positive opportunity for their businesses; (4) Employers'' growing use of third parties to recruit and screen new employees has significant implications for efforts to increase the hiring of disadvantaged young adults; (5) Widespread adoption of computerized applicant tracking systems has also changed the way employers interact with job seekers; (6) In the face of these changing practices, disadvantaged young workers need assistance communicating their skills and experience. Credentialing mechanisms could help; (7) Simple forms of support in entry-level jobs can put young adults on the path to success; and (8) To address the issue of youth unemployment at a transformative scale, demand-driven approaches can take on whole geographic areas or whole industries. The conversation and MDRC''s review of research evidence both underscore the need for more definitive evidence to determine what works in helping disadvantaged young adults improve their labor-market outcomes.