Lessons From the Delaware Dislocated Worker Pilot Program

Abstract

This article presents lessons learned from an innovative employment and training program for dislocated workers—persons who have lost stable, long-term jobs due to changing technology and/or increased international competition. Because the program was conducted as a randomized experiment, it was possible to obtain unbiased estimates of its impact as well as considerable information about its implementation. The article provides specific information about program design and serves as a prototype for how social experimentation can be used by state and local governments. In addition, the article illustrates how qualitative and quantitative information from process and impact analyses can be integrated to provide a richer picture of the program experience than would be possible otherwise.