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Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop (1996)

Chapter: PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE

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Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
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PART I
Outplacement Research and Expertise

Two papers prepared for the workshop provide an overview of the psychological research related to the effects that outplacement practices can have on employees and on reemployment, as well as the research on the effectiveness of labor market programs designed to achieve reemployment. Paper authors include: Connie Wanberg of Kansas State University and Leaetta Hough of the Dunnette Group; and Duane Leigh of Washington State University. Amiram Vinokur, a social psychologist and research scientist at the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan, presented the results of his research on the JOBS Project.

OVERVIEW

In "Unemployment and Outplacement: Evidence and Insights from an Organizational Psychology Perspective," Connie R. Wanberg and Leaetta M. Hough present evidence that outplacement and unemployment are stressful life events that can have a negative impact on individual and family health. They note that individuals vary in their abilities to cope with job loss, although there is evidence that the way an organization handles outplacement can mitigate individuals' negative emotions. Wanberg and Hough add that this applies to individual employees who are staying with an organization (survivors), as well as those who are leaving. As the workshop model suggests, a desired outplacement result for individuals is the effective management of stress, and it appears that the way the organization manages outplacement practices can help

Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
×

achieve this result. The authors also draw distinctions between outplacement practices undertaken by the organization as part of the management process (planning, communicating, resourcing the transition, etc.) and those undertaken for departing individuals in finding jobs (emotional counseling, career assessing and planning, training, etc.). They review some empirical studies of outplacement practices, emphasizing that such evaluation is scarce. Also hard to find is information on how to evaluate the effectiveness of outplacement services offered by particular consultants. Finally, Wanberg and Hough review evidence on how the effectiveness of outplacement practices may vary with individual demographic differences (age, gender, race, etc.) and individual social psychological differences (self-esteem, limited support networks, scarce financial resources). The implication is that outplacement practices may require some customization in order to have the desired results for different groups or individuals.

The second paper, "Reemployment: Labor Market Barriers and Solutions," by Duane E. Leigh provides an overview of publicly funded labor market programs designed to assist outplaced (or displaced) workers in getting reemployed as quickly as possible in jobs that offer earnings potential similar to the jobs lost. He summarizes these programs in four categories: programs to speed up reemployment, programs to replenish earnings, programs to replenish human capital (training), and programs for self-employment. Leigh reviews considerable evidence showing that job search assistance programs designed to speed up reemployment are effective and relatively low in cost. These programs encompass many of the resources typical in organizational career transition centers: career testing and guidance, workshops on job search skills, centers for job posting and advertisements, and some counseling. Job search assistance programs appear to be especially effective in speeding up reemployment if they are used shortly after a worker becomes unemployed. Leigh reviews the mixed evidence on the effectiveness of a number of other programs for reemployment, income replenishment, and training. He notes common problems in drawing conclusions about these programs. One is that unemployed people do not use the programs frequently enough, as is the case for relocation and self-employment programs. Another is that they do not use intervention programs early enough, often waiting until their unemployment or severance benefits run out before beginning job searches. A third problem is that employers do not use the programs frequently enough, as is the case for assisted on-the-job training programs. These are problems all organizations are likely to face in their efforts to outplace employees. Leigh's summary suggests that organizations should definitely fund transition centers and job search assistance for departing employees and concentrate on getting employees to use

Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
×

these services as soon as their outplacement status is known. Finally, Leigh reminds organizations of the public resources that can be found in their communities.

Part I ends with a summary of Amiram Vinokur's presentation on the JOBS Workshop and Project at the Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan. This workshop has been very successful in assisting recently unemployed people to find new, high-quality jobs and in energizing and motivating people to continue looking for work in the face of many setbacks. The importance of job search assistance has been echoed in all the papers, and the experimental evidence presented by Vinokur reinforces its importance. Vinokur outlines some of the unique features of the JOBS Workshop that its creators believe to be responsible for its success.

Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
×

UNEMPLOYMENT AND OUTPLACEMENT: AN ORGANIZATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY PERSPECTIVE

Connie R. Wanberg, Kansas State University, and Leaetta M. Hough, The Dunnette Group, Ltd.

Unemployment rates have been on the decline in the United States, and the number of layoffs has appeared to be on the decline as well. Then, in January 1996 AT&T announced that it was laying off 40,000 employees with 70 percent of the layoffs scheduled during the coming year (Sloan, 1996). AT&T is not alone in its intention. Apple Computer expects to lay off between 500 and 2,000 of its 13,000 employees in the next year (Manhattan Mercury, 1995). The Department of Defense is also in the midst of laying off thousands of military and civilian employees (Ricks, 1994). Indeed, the Army has reduced its active-duty force from approximately 710,000 to 540,000 and expects to cut an additional 45,000 positions over the next three years (Harvey, 1995). Restructuring, with its apparently inevitable downsizing, continues at a rapid pace as organizations in both the public and private sectors struggle to respond to rapidly changing political and economic conditions. In fact, the downsizing phenomenon has become so pervasive that we may not always associate it with unemployment. Unfortunately, we thereby underestimate the overall impact of downsizing.

The impact of losing one's job and the resulting unemployment is enormous. For most, it represents a crisis. Although no two persons experience such loss in exactly the same way, if it occurs, it is likely one of the most significant events in an individual's life. In this paper, we review the psychological impact of unemployment for the individual, the trend in this country for organizations to utilize outplacement consultants, and the content and relative effectiveness of outplacement services.

The Psychological Impact of Unemployment

There has been a great deal of research in the psychological literature focused on the impact of unemployment. These studies, going back to the Great Depression, have shown that unemployment tends to be a stressful life event, having an impact on individuals' psychological and physical health and on family relationships. It is common for individuals to experience feelings of anxiety, depression, shock, uncertainty about the future, anger, bitterness, resentment, shame, and loss of self-respect following job loss (e.g., Eales, 1989; Fineman, 1983; Hepworth, 1980; Swinburne, 1981). Individuals may suffer from increased physical symptoms because of the strain of job loss or because of financial deprivation and resulting poorer nutrition, housing, clothing, and heating (Kessler et al., 1987; Warr

Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
×

and Jackson, 1984). O'Brien and Kabanoff (1979) reported that unemployed participants in their study experienced a higher number of physical symptoms including allergies, bronchitis, coughs, colds, and shortness of breath, than an employed comparison group.

Despite the fact that unemployment tends to be a stressful life event, there are wide individual differences in the ability to cope with job loss. Recent research has investigated what factors influence individuals' reactions to unemployment. Financial hardship (having difficulty making ends meet) and high employment commitment (meaning work is very important to the individual) have been associated with lower well-being during unemployment (see Jackson et al., 1983; Turner et al., 1991). Social support, high self-esteem, perceived control over the situation, and high time structure (the ability to keep busy and productive during unemployment) have been associated with higher well-being during unemployment (see Feather and Bond, 1983; Latack et al., 1995; Turner et al., 1991). The procedures used to manage a layoff may also affect emotional reactions to job loss. In a sample of recently laid-off individuals, Bunce et al. (1996) found low levels of mental health among those who (1) felt there had been bias in the layoff decision-making process, (2) had not been given an adequate explanation about why the layoff was occurring, and (3) were not given the opportunity to appeal their termination. In contrast, individuals who felt their organization tried to be fair and just during the layoff process experienced higher levels of well-being following job loss.

While a great deal of research has focused on the impact of unemployment for individuals who have lost their jobs, fewer studies have assessed how organizational layoffs may impact individuals who are retained by the organization (layoff survivors). A recent series of studies has shown that organizational layoffs may have a substantial impact on layoff survivors (see Brockner, 1988). Productivity and job satisfaction may decrease among survivors, due to excessive workloads, feelings of guilt over the layoffs of coworkers, fear of future layoffs, and reduced commitment to the organization. For example, a study conducted at West Point found a trend for officers not laid off in the military's current downsizing efforts to show reduced commitment to the service (Ricks, 1994). Organizations that hope to reduce the impact of layoffs on both victims and survivors should strive to make unbiased, ethical, and accurate layoff decisions, communicate information about the layoff and layoff decisions clearly and respectfully, give employees advance notice of the layoff, provide opportunities to correct errors, and provide adequate severance or outplacement benefits (see Konovsky and Brockner, 1993).

In recent years, outplacement firms have begun to play an increasingly large role in helping organizations to effectively plan and conduct

Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
×

their downsizing efforts and in assisting laid-off individuals in securing employment. According to Pickman (1994), there are at least 300 outplacement firms in the United States, and revenues within these firms have increased dramatically in the past decade. A recent survey by the Association of Outplacement Consulting Firms International showed that 96 percent of Fortune 1,000 companies use outplacement firms (Mike Corbin, personal communication, November 11, 1995). Whereas in the past outplacement services were provided solely to senior executives, outplacement today is a service appropriate for individuals at all organizational levels (Sweet, 1989). The remainder of this paper discusses outplacement practices, the effectiveness of outplacement efforts, recommendations for choosing a reputable outplacement firm, the role of individual differences in the provision of outplacement services, and future research needs relevant to the provision of outplacement services.

Outplacement Programs and Practices

Outplacement is both an organizational process and an individual process. From an organizational perspective, outplacement includes (a) identifying individuals whose employment is to be terminated, (b) training the people who inform employees of their termination, (c) informing employees of their termination and their severance/benefits package, (d) counseling survivors to reduce the negative effect on morale, (e) communicating a message to the community designed to preserve the company's image, and (f) planning the strategy, policies, procedures, timing, and logistics of the entire organizational process.

From the perspective of the individual whose employment is being terminated, needed outplacement services include (a) emotional and social support to cope with the situation and to stay motivated and committed to the job search, (b) information and advice on making financial decisions and adjustments, (c) guidance with examining and developing career goals, (d) information, advice, training, and feedback on planning and conducting a job campaign, and (e) administrative support.

Outplacement consultants typically refer to the organization as the client because it is the organization that pays for both the organizational and individual outplacement services. However, the organization and individual whose employment is terminated have different and sometimes conflicting needs.

Services Available to the Organization

Outplacement consultants provide a variety of services for contracting organizations. The client organization determines the comprehensiveness of services desired.

Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
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Planning the Process

The strategies, policies, procedures, and timing of outplacement activities and events are very important. Considerable planning and coordination are required. One decision is, of course, whether or not to have outside consultants or internal staff provide the organizational and individual outplacement services. Consultants are sometimes brought in early enough to help the organization plan the entire outplacement process.

Deselection Decisions

The organization must decide on the criteria and processes it intends to use to identify individuals whose employment is to be terminated. The organization needs to decide how many and who to terminate and for what reason. (If an employee is terminated for cause, i.e., termination is performance-based, different procedures are typically needed.) The organization should think strategically about the skills and abilities needed in its workforce to compete in the future. The strategies used to decide who and how many people to terminate should be procedurally fair, perceived as fair, and legally defensible. Some outplacement consultants provide advice on performance appraisal procedures and strategic planning that may help the organization develop and implement fair and defensible outplacement strategies and policies.

Training the Person Who Conducts the Termination Interview

The person assigned to conduct a termination interview should receive training. Such an assignment is very difficult and uncomfortable. It can be done poorly and thereby increase the trauma for the person whose employment is being terminated as well as increase the probability of lawsuits and negative reactions from other employees and the community when word spreads about how it was ''mishandled.'' Many outplacement consultants provide training and advice on how to conduct the termination interview.

Conducting the Termination Interview

The employee needs to be informed of his or her termination, the reasons for it, and his or her severance package and benefits. Ideally, the person will also have the opportunity to meet immediately with an outplacement counselor to begin the process of adjusting to the new life circumstances and finding new employment.

Counseling Survivors

Those persons who are not terminated need to be informed of what has or is about to occur. If outplacement services are provided to persons who are terminated, part of the communication can focus on the quality of the treatment the individuals are receiving. The social conscience of the organization can be legitimately emphasized. The organization also needs to develop a strategy for helping the survivors

Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
×

adjust to the situation. Part of the adjustment may involve performing other or more work, duties that were previously performed by the persons who were terminated. Survivors may also need to adjust to what is perhaps a new reality—the employment contract is no longer a guarantee of job security. Some outplacement consultants provide advice on what and how to communicate with the remaining staff, some provide advice on how to restructure and reassign work to the remaining staff, and some provide counseling for those survivors that remain with the company.

Communicating with the Community

An organization is typically concerned about its public image and correctly perceives a layoff, especially one that will affect the community, as having a likely negative effect. The outplacement consultant may provide advice about procedures that aid the community in responding to the situation as well as help draft the message that is released to the public.

Services Available to the Individual

Outplacement consultants provide a variety of services for the individual whose employment has been or is being terminated. The services may be provided to the individual in a one-on-one or group setting. Again, the client organization typically determines the comprehensiveness and type of service provided to individuals who are being laid off. The level of services usually depends on the organization's budget, as well as the employee's organizational level, length of service, and reason for termination (Davenport, 1984).

Emotional and Social Support

Reactions to involuntary job loss have been likened to the grieving process. Schlossberg and Leibowitz (1980) identified five stages: disbelief, sense of betrayal, confusion, anger, and resolution. Other people have identified other, but similar, stages. Whatever labels are attached, the individual needs to cope with the depression, anxiety, and loss of self-esteem that are well-documented reactions to losing one's job. Outplacement counselors typically provide emotional support important to an individual struggling to cope with his or her emotions. Outplacement consultants advise the contracting organizations that, the sooner this process begins, the more quickly the activities that focus on reemployment can begin. Indeed, outplacement consultants are sometimes available as soon as employees have been informed of their termination.

Empirical support has been shown for the need for outplacement services to help individuals resolve some of their feelings about job loss. Spera et al. (1994), for example, found that unemployed professionals

Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
×

who were asked to write about their thoughts and emotions regarding their job loss for 20 minutes a day for 5 consecutive days were reemployed faster than two comparison groups. Spera et al. noted that the writing generated by the professionals was full of anger and hostility. They suggest that perhaps the writing helped the individuals work through their negative feelings, and that perhaps it helped the individuals to present a more positive outlook during job interviews.

One's job or work is for many people an important element in shaping their identity, self-worth, and status. Thus, one of the difficult events an individual encounters is informing friends and family. Many outplacement consultants help the individual through this stage and even provide counseling services to spouses and significant others. Once family and friends are informed and are coping with the news, they can become important contributors to a positive employment outcome. Social support has been shown to be a very important factor in the individual's self-esteem and motivation to seek and persist in seeking employment (Caplan et al., 1989; Kahn and Antonucci, 1981; Vinokur and Caplan, 1987; Wanberg et al., in press). As Caplan et al. (1989) demonstrated, consultants, peers, friends, and spouses can provide social support that is critical to the employment outcome.

Another variable that impacts mental health is the ability to keep busy and structure one's time. Hepworth (1980), Feather and Bond (1983), Kilpatrick and Trew (1985), and Wanberg et al. (1996) have all shown that activity and structured and purposeful use of time are positively associated with mental health. The outplacement consultant has an important role in encouraging and supporting the individual in structuring his or her time effectively.

Financial Decisions and Adjustments

The individual often has a number of financial decisions to make regarding his or her severance package and benefits. Outplacement consultants often provide information about the implications of different choices or provide access to others who can provide similar advice. The individual also needs to consider the future financial impact of his or her unemployment. This typically involves changing one's lifestyle to one that requires less income, at least temporarily. Outplacement consultants often provide advice on how to assess the impact and kinds of adjustments that may be required.

Career Planning

Outplacement consultants provide important assistance in working through the many career planning issues that arise following job loss. An outplacement consultant can help individuals examine their strengths and weaknesses, learn about different jobs and careers, and match their needs, skills, and abilities with the characteristics and

Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
×

requirements of different jobs and careers. The outplacement consultant may provide the individual with (a) questions to think about and answer (when the service is individualized, this is typically an interview), (b) tests and inventories that measure interests, needs, personality characteristics, skills, and abilities, (c) detailed descriptions and profiles of jobs and careers that include information about required skills and abilities and satisfied interests and needs, (d) directories of companies, and (e) data banks of vocational and job information. Ideally, outplacement consultants are trained professionals in providing vocational and career guidance. If effective, the outplacement experience can be an opportunity for an intense, positive self-examination of life goals and how such goals can be realized.

Planning and Conducting a Job Campaign

Once the target job or career is identified, the individual must develop a job campaign plan designed to obtain job leads, market oneself, and negotiate employment offers. Each one of these involves significant effort on the part of the individual. Setbacks and rejections are difficult and can be demotivating. The outplacement consultant provides support and inoculation to help the individual remain focused and motivated even when encountering rejection (Caplan et al., 1989). In addition, the consultant provides training and information needed to plan a job campaign, market oneself, obtain job leads, and negotiate offers effectively.

Planning the search, marketing oneself, and obtaining job leads includes preparing a resume, networking, searching databases, reading newspaper advertisements, and interviewing. A plan with completion dates is helpful for focusing the individual on constructive activities throughout this phase. One of the most basic of outplacement services is help in preparing a resume. A good resume highlights the individual's special qualifications for the job. Another important feature of outplacement services is a resource library that contains reading materials and databases or access to databases on industries, companies, and jobs. The individual utilizes these resources, along with networking, to identify job leads. The outplacement consultant provides information and training on how to network and use the resource library effectively. The majority of unemployed managers and professionals find employment through networking. Although networking is not as important for clerical and blue-collar individuals, it is still an essential skill for individuals at all levels. Outplacement consultants also provide training in effective interviewing skills, on negotiating the particulars of a job offer, and how to evaluate job offers.

Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
×
Administrative Support

Throughout the outplacement process, administrative support may be provided to the individual. The extent of support depends on the level of the position the individual held with the client organization. Typically, the higher the position in the organization, the more generous the administrative support provided. At a minimum, administrative support includes word processing capabilities to prepare resumes and letters. At higher levels of administrative support, phone answering service, secretarial support, personal computers, fax and copy machines, and individual office space are provided.

Summary

It seems evident that outplacement consulting has the potential to be beneficial to both organizations and individuals. The contracting organization receives professional advice on planning and communicating information about their layoffs, and unemployed individuals receive emotional support and assistance with financial, career, and job-seeking issues. Outplacement purports to reduce the impact of unemployment on the individual, speed the process of reemployment, and decrease the likelihood of lawsuits targeting the downsizing organization. Yet the critical reader may wonder to what extent outplacement services have been evaluated regarding their ability to adequately achieve such outcomes. The next section focuses on measures that can be used to assess the effectiveness of outplacement services, summarizing empirical research that has focused on this issue.

Evaluating the Effectiveness of Outplacement Programs

Empirical research assessing the effectiveness of outplacement programs and services is important and necessary, although few evaluation studies have been conducted (Leana and Ivancevich, 1987; Leana and Feldman, 1992; Kozlowski et al., 1993). Organizations that purchase outplacement services want to know to what extent they are effective and worth the money they cost. Unemployed individuals do not want to waste their time and efforts participating in services that do not benefit them.

The Institute of Social Research (ISR) at the University of Michigan has conducted perhaps the largest and one of the few studies available on the effectiveness of intervention programs for the unemployed (see Caplan et al., 1989; Vinokur et al., 1991). The study focused specifically on evaluating the effectiveness of an intervention project known as the JOBS Program. The goal of the JOBS Program was to reduce the impact of

Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
×

unemployment on individual mental health, to prevent motivational problems during job search, and to increase placement in high-quality positions. Although the JOBS Program was not an outplacement program per se, the fundamental goals and methods of the project were comparable to those of most outplacement programs.

The 928 participants in this study were recruited from employment compensation offices in Michigan. Individuals were randomly assigned to participate in an experimental group (which involved attending eight 3-hour JOBS Program training sessions) and a control group (which involved giving individuals a brief job-seeking pamphlet). For further details regarding participant recruitment, sample characteristics, and attrition rates, see Caplan et al. (1989). The JOBS Project sessions for the experimental group occurred over a 2-week time period. These sessions included exercises and discussions aimed at establishing trust between participants and the trainers, providing social support, teaching and practicing job-seeking skills, and preparing and learning to cope with setbacks that might be faced during the job search.

The JOBS Program was very successful. Analyses completed 1 and 4 months after the intervention demonstrated that individuals that had been in the experimental group found jobs more quickly than individuals in the control group, and the jobs that they had found were of higher quality in terms of job satisfaction and pay. Individuals in the experimental group that had not found jobs had higher levels of mental health and job-seeking motivation than the unemployed individuals in the control group (Caplan et al., 1989). A long-term follow-up of the study's participants (32 months after the intervention) showed lasting effects for the benefits of the intervention for 81 percent of the individuals. A cost-benefit analysis also demonstrated that, although the intervention cost $286 per participant, the profits to the federal government and state far exceeded these costs (e.g., due to increased taxes paid by the experimental group) (Vinokur et al., 1991). Because of the success of the JOBS Program, the four primary investigators associated with the project won the National Mental Health Association's 1990 Lela Rowland Prevention Award.

The U.S. Army recently conducted a study to assess the effectiveness of its outplacement services, provided by Resource Consultants, Inc. (RCI), a firm located in Virginia (Harvey, 1995). RCI provided individuals with a 3-day outplacement workshop. Interested persons could then meet individually with a counselor and use the Army's Job Assistance Center resume software, employer databases, and reference materials. Because careful records were kept regarding use of the center's services, it was possible to compare a random sample of the individuals who had only attended the workshop with individuals who attended the workshop and participated in the additional outplacement services. The data indicated

Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
×

that individuals that participated in both the workshop and the additional services were significantly more likely to be employed (89.6 versus 80.9 percent) and received higher starting salaries (almost 13 percent higher) than individuals who only attended the workshop (Harvey, 1995; Hale et al., 1994). It should be noted, however, that these results could be due to higher motivation on the part of the individuals who voluntarily used the additional services. The Army Research Institute (ARI) is currently in the midst of conducting a more detailed evaluation of the outplacement services being provided to military personnel.

There are also some exemplary case studies of large-scale layoffs that include evaluations of organizational outplacement practices and their effects on individuals. Most notable here are the Leana and Feldman (1992) studies of the layoffs after the Challenger disaster in Florida and among the steel mills of the Monongahela Valley of Pennsylvania. In these studies, several organizational outplacement practices were associated with positive outcomes, such as higher reemployment and reemployment prospects (including possible relocation), higher satisfaction with jobs found, and lower psychological stress for employees who were laid off. These practices included ample advance notice of layoffs; generous severance pay and extended medical or other benefits offered to all levels of departing employees; retraining support either directly through funding or indirectly through assistance in finding funding; and support for the development of such job search skills as resume writing, interviewing, getting job leads, career counseling, and direct job placement assistance.

Hoban (1987) notes that organizations can demonstrate that they have saved money in the long run by providing outplacement services to their employees. He cites the following figures based on a review of the literature and a survey conducted in the greater Cleveland area (p.192):

Consider an executive earning $65,000 per year. A manager at this level would typically be eligible for severance pay and benefits for up to one year…. If simply terminated without outplacement assistance, this individual's firing would cost the corporation $65,000 plus the cost of a year's extended benefits. Consider the alternative: outplacement with financial bridging and benefits for the duration of the job search. The outplacement fee (using 15 percent as the average) would amount to $9,750: Based on a job search of six months, which is the mid-range of the estimate for high salaried employees, this individual would receive severance pay amounting to $32,500 plus the cost of six months of extended employee benefits. Not including the benefits cost, this amounts to $42,250 when using outplacement assistance, or an estimated savings of $22,750 over the strict termination alternative.

Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
×

Many outplacement firms have relied on reports of client satisfaction to support their firm's effectiveness. Grateful clients often give small gifts or letters of appreciation to their outplacement counselors and refer others who need outplacement services to the firm. Organizations interested in hiring an outplacement firm can ask for references to contact (Lee, 1990). Organizations may also develop an evaluation form for their employees to complete while using the outplacement services. Counselors can be evaluated with regard to their effectiveness, helpfulness, and level of expertise, and the quality of training workshops and materials can be rated (Henrikson, 1982).

Overall, available evidence indicates that outplacement services and programs for the unemployed can be beneficial to both the unemployed individuals and their former employers. However, the number and variety of outplacement services has proliferated in recent years, and their effectiveness may depend on the individual firm or professional chosen (Branham, 1983; Guinn, 1988). In other words, research in general may show that outplacement helps increase reemployment and improve the morale of unemployed individuals, but there may be individual firms that are more or less effective in this regard. Although there has been little or no empirical research comparing the effectiveness of different outplacement firms and the various services they provide, a few suggestions for organizations choosing an outplacement firm are noted in the next section.

Characteristics of Effective Outplacement Services

Henrikson (1982) advises that organizations contract with outplacement firms that are experienced or well established. He further advises that references be obtained from the outplacement firm and its counselors. A representative from the contracting organization may also ask if he or she may sit in on selected portions of training programs or counseling sessions.

The diversity of expertise that is required to provide the many aspects of outplacement services make it difficult for any single consultant to be equipped to handle all aspects of outplacement. An outplacement consultant needs a background in human resources, counseling, and employment law and must be very familiar with the world of work and job-seeking methods. He or she must also have respect for other individuals, even if their values differ from his or her own (Pickman, 1994). An organizational representative should ask about the diversity of expertise available on-staff at the consulting firm.

Branham (1983) suggests that it is important to inquire about how much one-on-one assessment and counseling time is devoted to each un

Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
×

employed client. He suggests that at least 25 hours be spent on client self-assessment, helping the client uncover his or her job-related strengths and weaknesses. And the assessment must be interpreted or used, not just completed as a meaningless exercise. Shah (1994), writing about his experience as an outplacement client, makes this point. When he went through outplacement, he completed a 50-page questionnaire with many pages of instructions attached, met with an outplacement counselor to elaborate on many of his answers, and then wrote a 14-page summary of his experience. Shah's experience was that, although all of this assessment was completed, little to no interpretation was rendered, and he did not feel that he learned from the process.

The cost of outplacement services is also an important issue. Fees are fixed, by-the-hour, or based on a percentage of the employee's salary (Henrikson, 1982). According to Lubin (1994), U.S. companies spent an average of $2,000 per outplaced employee 10 years ago, but now spend less than $500 today. Although this is partially due to the fact that employers are now offering outplacement services to lower-level employees, it also reflects a cost-conscious attitude on the part of organizations and price wars between outplacement firms. Sweet (1989) urges employers to look at the quality of services provided and not just their cost.

Individual Differences and Outplacement

Although some general conclusions regarding what constitutes effective outplacement practices, it is possible that individual differences may moderate the effectiveness of outplacement practices that can be developed. For example, does the effectiveness of outplacement services differ by gender, race, age, or individual personality? Are there any types or groups of individuals that need special attention? Because the workforce is becoming more diverse, it is increasingly important that outplacement counselors have the ability to be effective with many types of individuals (Pickman, 1994).

Although little empirical research has focused on the role of gender, race, and age in outplacement, a few observations can be made. In terms of gender, outplacement has typically been male-dominated—most individuals referred for outplacement and most outplacement counselors tend to be male (Lee, 1990). A woman in outplacement may be less likely than a man to feel that her counselor understands her career situation. According to Lee (1990), networking may be more difficult for women than for men. Despite changing times, there still exists in many fields what is known as the "good old boy network," making it easier for men to make job contacts than it is for women. Women may be more likely than men to have child care or other family issues that limit their options or ability to

Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
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relocate (Lee, 1990). Leana and Feldman (1991) found that unemployed women tend to rely more on symptom-focused coping (such as seeking social support) than men, and men tend to rely more on problem-focused activities such as job-seeking. Phelps and Mason (1991) report that women tend to stay in outplacement longer than men and may be more likely than men to start over as entrepreneurs or consultants. Pickman (1994) suggests it is important for outplacement counselors to work hard to empower women, be familiar with entrepreneurial options, and consider offering special support groups for women. He notes the danger, however, of targeting women for special treatment, suggesting that this may isolate them further and add discrimination against men.

Lee (1990) mentions that nonwhite (minority) individuals in outplacement may also have different needs. Similar to the situation with women in outplacement, there are only small numbers of minority outplacement clients and counselors. Minority individuals have typically received less mentoring in their careers than whites, and a less-developed network exists to help them become reemployed. It is common for African Americans to report that, in the workplace, they feel as if they are under constant pressure to prove themselves (Pickman, 1994). Pickman (1994) suggests that outplacement counselors must have the ability to be effective with ethnic groups that have different experiences, values, beliefs, and behaviors from their own. This may prove important throughout the outplacement process. As one example, when preparing individuals for job interviews, counselors will find that some individuals have been socialized to avoid eye contact and to avoid elaborating on their personal qualifications.

Some special attention may be necessary for unemployed individuals over the age of 40. Research has shown a positive relationship between age and length of unemployment (Latack et al., 1995). Individuals who have worked at the same organization for many years may have a hard time coping with their job loss (Kirk, 1994) and, since they have not been active on the job market, they may not be familiar with current job-seeking methods. Older workers may also face age discrimination and negative stereotyping. Employers may falsely believe that older workers are expensive, inflexible, resistant to change, and less productive and motivated than younger workers (Hakim, 1993). Wanberg et al. (in press) found that self-reported frequent job-seeking behavior increased reemployment for individuals under the age of 40 but did not increase reemployment for individuals over the age of 40. One interpretation of this finding may be age discrimination, but it is also possible that the older workers were less in tune with current job-seeking methods.

Another study has suggested that the individuals that may benefit most from outplacement services are those who lack a general confidence

Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
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in themselves or their abilities. Eden and Aviram (1993), in a study of 66 unemployed individuals, demonstrated that individuals with low self-efficacy (a lack of confidence in one's abilities or of being successful in a variety of situations) were the most likely to benefit from an 8-day workshop that included role-playing and other exercises aimed at increasing self-efficacy in the job search context. The workshop increased reemployment among individuals with initially low levels of self-efficacy but not among those with initially high levels of self-efficacy. Individuals with high levels of self-efficacy were more likely to become reemployed whether or not they had participated in the workshop. Individuals who are concerned about financial resources, who have little social support from friends or family, and who are especially upset about being unemployed may also be ones who will benefit the most from outplacement services (Latack and Dozier, 1986).

Finally, special attention may be necessary for workers being laid off from federal employment. Individuals in these contexts often have a hard time envisioning a life outside the military or the federal government, and employers in the private sector often do not see the relevance of military service or federal employment experience to their needs (Ricks, 1994; Philpott, 1995). Military retirees have been turned down by interviewers who have said ''All you have is military experience'' (Ricks, 1994:A1). Even a civilian employee working for the government may face discrimination if employers feel they do not have an understanding of the "real world of business." Networking may also be difficult for military or government employees who have been forced to relocate frequently, since they may not have developed ties or relationships with private-sector employees in the various communities they have lived in (Philpott, 1995).

Several steps can be taken to increase the link between individuals in federal positions and the private sector. Philpott (1995) recommends that military and government workers frankly assess their skills and decide if there are appropriate positions available for them in the private sector. It is often desirable for individuals to consider a wide range of careers, instead of focusing on a job or career directly parallel to the previous position held. If the market is not good for the positions an individual is qualified for, he or she may need to acquire further education or training. Alternatively, an individual could work in a series of temporary positions as a means of learning about different employers and positions, as well as a means of sharpening his or her skills.

Ancona (1995) urges military individuals to have civilian friends review their resume to make sure that it is light on military jargon and that the skills that are highlighted are important to employers in a civilian context. They should also prepare for comments from employers that may suggest that they are not flexible and ready to adapt to a less struc

Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
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tured, profit-and-loss-based business environment (Philpott, 1995). Ricks (1994) advocates that people network with ex-military or government employees in the private sector, as a means of finding people who will understand their skills and situation.

The federal employment agencies and the military can also take proactive steps to increase their employees' placement in the private sector. The Army, for example, has tried to develop a reputation in the private sector as an employer that trains young and inexperienced people and sends them out as skilled and productive employees (Harvey, 1995). The Army invites employers to enter their Job Assistance Center database at no cost. The database lists the type of skills that over 11,000 employers are recruiting for and identifies individuals with matching profiles (Harvey, 1994). Outplacement services are also provided that help individuals through the process of transferring their skills from federal employment to the private sector.

In summary, the literature suggests that outplacement efforts often need to be tailored to meet individual differences. Outplacement counselors have to be careful that they respond to the needs of all of their clients, and outplacement firms have to hire counselors who reflect the diversity of the workforce.

Research Needs

There is a need for continued research on the topic of outplacement services. Most of the literature on outplacement is practitioner-based. Although this literature provides valuable information based on consultant experience, there is little information provided from empirical research. Guinn (1988) notes that outplacement firms are often "full of recommendations that are not based on sound scientific research" (p. 58).

Research is needed, for example, to assess the relative effectiveness of various outplacement program components. No empirical work has focused on what aspects of an outplacement program are most cost-efficient and useful, or how much time outplacement counselors should focus on concrete job-seeking skills versus career goals and emotional issues within the outplacement service. Although it is likely that the exact balance is specific to each client (Branham, 1983), research on this issue would still be useful. Outplacement organizations are typically evaluated by the terminating organization in terms of how fast they are able to produce results (e.g., help find employment) for the laid-off employees. Unfortunately, this may discourage outplacement consultants from helping clients to set career goals, decide what type of position they would like to look for, and resolve emotional issues lingering from the job loss. Instead,

Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
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more focus may be put on concrete job-seeking skills and trying to get the individual reemployed as fast as possible (Davenport, 1984; Bearak, 1982).

While available data seem to indicate that outplacement services are beneficial and useful to both organizations and to unemployed individuals, more evaluation research in this area is desirable. For example, it would be beneficial to conduct further research to assess the extent to which individuals receiving outplacement services are reemployed faster, receive salary increases, and are more satisfied with the jobs they find when compared with individuals who do not receive outplacement services. An optimal study on this issue would compare one group that received outplacement program services with a control group that did not on a number of variables, such as length of time to find employment, placement in chosen career, salary increases, etc. These two groups would have to be randomly assigned, and factors such as age, level of education, gender, and years of experience would have to be taken into account. Ideally, the individuals would be from the same company and laid off at the same point in time. Such a situation is not a common occurrence, however, and is almost impossible to arrange for research purposes (Lee, 1990).

Another issue of importance is how different outplacement programs compare in terms of their effectiveness. According to Lee (1990), employers who hire outplacement firms often want to know their placement rates, that is, how many individuals who use the services become reemployed. Lee suggests that this is not a good indicator of a firm's effectiveness, because virtually 100 percent of all outplacement clients eventually become reemployed. It is possible, however, to compare outplacement firms by contrasting the length of time it takes individuals in the firms to find employment, or by assessing how the salaries in clients' new positions compare with their previous salaries.

Research should also focus on the role of individual differences in outplacement and on studying what factors predict job-seeking behavior and reemployment in a general sense (e.g., see Wanberg et al:, in press). These and several other topics of research relevant to outplacement services would help to increase the ability of outplacement professionals to provide high-quality services to unemployed individuals and their respective downsizing organizations.

Conclusion

Layoffs continue to occur on a large scale in the United States. Organizations have increasingly turned to outplacement firms for advice and guidance in their downsizing efforts. Current evidence seems to indicate that outplacement firms are beneficial for both the organizations that are

Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
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conducting layoffs and for the individuals experiencing the layoffs. Additional empirical research would be useful to clarify the extent of the benefits provided by outplacement services and what aspects of outplacement services are most effective.

References

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Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
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Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
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Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
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REEMPLOYMENT:
LABOR MARKET BARRIERS AND SOLUTIONS

Duane E. Leigh, Washington State University

Displaced workers are typically characterized as unemployed individuals with considerable work experience who have lost their jobs because of a mass layoff or plant closing. Events occurring during the first few years of the 1990s have dramatically heightened the attention paid by policy makers and the public to the circumstances of the displaced. These events include:

  • Job losses in the defense sector associated with large-scale cutbacks in the federal defense budget. Adversely affected are both federal civilian and military personnel and private-sector defense industry workers.

  • Concern that the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) would cause U.S. producers to shift operations to other countries, thereby eliminating domestic jobs.

  • The perception that corporate restructuring during the 1990–1991 recession and the years immediately following is, for the first time, substantially increasing joblessness among white-collar workers outside manufacturing as well as blue-collar workers in the manufacturing sector.

Because their job losses follow from industrial restructuring or changes in public policy, displaced workers face a low probability of being recalled to their old jobs or even to similar jobs in their old industries. Thus, they face the unattractive prospect of testing the labor market with job search skills likely to be rusty from lack of use, with little current information about job opportunities outside their immediate industry, and with firm-and industry-specific skills the value of which may have to be written off as obsolete.

A large literature exists indicating that displaced workers suffer sizable earnings losses associated with lengthy periods of postlayoff joblessness and lower wages upon reemployment. A recent study by Jacobson et al., (1993a, 1993b) provides a comprehensive picture of the magnitude of these earnings losses. Using longitudinal data covering the 1980–1986 period for high-tenure workers in Pennsylvania, the authors find that earnings losses of displaced workers average about $9,000, or 40 percent of prelayoff earnings in the year following displacement. The size of these losses declines somewhat over time, since almost all displaced workers find stable employment after six quarters of unemployment. But even during the fifth year after job separation, lower-wage reemployment jobs led to earnings losses that average approximately $6,500, or 25 percent of

Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
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former earnings. Moreover, earnings losses associated with temporary layoffs and wage reductions began even before workers were permanently separated from their firms. Taking into account the prelayoff earnings dip, the period of postdisplacement joblessness, and lower reemployment wages, Jacobson et al. (1993a) calculate that the present value of earnings losses for a typical displaced worker is on the order of $80,000. Earnings losses of this magnitude suggest the desirability of public policy intervention to assist the reemployment of displaced workers.1

It should also be emphasized that these earnings losses are not uniform. In general, the literature suggests that earnings losses are especially large for displaced workers with lengthy job tenure with their prelayoff employers, those forced to change industry or occupation to find a new job, and residents of high-unemployment areas. Neal's (1995) recent analysis of workers put out of work by establishment closings indicates that displaced workers who find new jobs in other than their predisplacement industry earn significantly lower returns to both their predisplacement experience and their tenure than similar workers reemployed in the same industry. These results suggest that senior workers accumulate skills that are not only specific to the firm but also to the industry or particular kind of work. The value of these skills is, of course, lost when experienced workers are displaced from their jobs and obliged to switch industries to find new employment.

This paper provides an overview of policies and programs currently under consideration by policy makers that are designed to assist displaced workers in overcoming labor market barriers to reemployment. It first briefly describes major types of displaced worker programs. It then examines the empirical evidence available from demonstration projects, experiments, and ongoing programs that can be used to assess the labor market effectiveness of particular policies. In the next section, the focus shifts to new reemployment initiatives currently being tested but for which empirical evidence is not yet available. The final section summarizes the findings and discusses their implications for public policy.

Major Categories of Displaced Worker Programs

Table 1 outlines major types of displaced worker programs. These program types may be broadly stratified into two categories: programs intended to speed up the job search process and programs designed to replenish firm-specific and possibly industry-specific human capital made obsolete because the displaced worker will not be recalled to his or her old job and may not be able to find a new job in the old industry. Each of these categories is considered in turn.

Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
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TABLE 1 Major Types of Displaced Worker Programs

Program Type

Description

Job search assistance

Refers to a sequence of services designed to enhance job search skills, thereby speeding up the reemployment process. These services typically include some combination of the following: outreach; orientation; assessment and testing; job search workshops, resource centers, and job clubs; follow-up counseling; and job development and placement. Early intervention with these services is often termed profiling.

Classroom training

Classroom courses designed to enhance earnings potential by providing the job skills necessary for displaced workers to qualify for vacant jobs in expanding industries. Local postsecondary education and training institutions usually serve as subcontractors providing the actual skill training courses.

Relocation assistance

Programs designed to speed up the reemployment process by encouraging displaced workers to move from depressed to expanding local labor markets. Financial assistance is provided to allow workers to travel to job interviews in geographically distant labor markets and, if successful, to relocate their families to the new location.

Reemployment bonus

Directed at the problem that the reemployment of displaced workers may be delayed, not by inadequate job search skills, but by a lack of motivation to engage in search while drawing unemployment insurance benefits or by the natural reluctance to accept a new job offering considerably lower wages and benefits than the prelayoff job.

Self-employment programs

Allows displaced workers to continue receiving unemployment benefits while they acquire basic business skills and attempt to establish their own small businesses.

Wage subsidy programs

Pays a wage subsidy to employers to encourage the hiring of targeted workers. The objective of these programs is that workers receive on-the-job training that enhances their firm-and industry-specific job skills.

Earnings subsidy programs

Programs that pay the subsidy directly to eligible workers. Their two-fold objective is to (1) target assistance to those displaced workers who have suffered the greatest losses in earnings and (2) increase the incentive to return to work, even at substantially lower wages, for those who under the present unemployment insurance system have an especially strong work disincentive.

Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
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Programs to Speed Up Reemployment

Displaced workers are typically eligible for unemployment insurance benefits to help them maintain family income during their spell of unemployment. During this period, they are required to meet work search requirements imposed by the system, and they are eligible for traditional labor exchange services provided by the U.S. Employment Service. Labor exchange in this context refers to matching unemployed workers who choose to sign up with local Employment Service offices to vacant jobs voluntarily listed with them by local employers. Job search assistance services are designed to go beyond the traditional labor exchange function of public employment agencies in terms of reaching out to the unemployed, improving their job search skills, and assisting them to locate jobs that may not be listed or advertised by employers. A menu of specific job search assistance services is listed in Table 1. Relocation assistance complements these services by providing displaced workers with additional financial resources to enable them to expand the geographic scope of their job search and, if successful, to move their families to the new location.

More experimental programs also designed to speed up the reemployment process are reemployment bonus and earnings subsidy schemes. The reemployment bonus is intended to at least partially offset the incentive of unemployment insurance recipients to delay active job search until the end of their eligibility for benefits, since benefits cease once a new job has been found. To offset this work disincentive, a lumpsum cash payment is made to those claimants who become reemployed quickly. Earnings subsidy plans increase the incentive to return to work, even at lower postdisplacement wages, by paying displaced workers who find a new job a temporary subsidy, the amount of which is proportional to the gap between pre-and postdisplacement earnings.

Programs to Replenish Human Capital

Displaced workers found to be in need of replenishing their marketable skills are usually referred to either classroom training programs or, less frequently, to firm-based training programs. In the case of classroom training, an eligible worker is often assigned a slot in a curriculum already developed by an institutional training provider subcontracting to the agency administering the program. An alternative approach allowing more individual choice is to provide the client with a voucher that he or she may redeem by selecting a curriculum provided by any one of a number of approved training institutions.

Numerous studies estimating earnings functions for U.S. workers have established that firm-based training has a higher return than other

Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
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forms of postschool training (see, for example, Lynch 1992). This is presumably because the training is linked more directly to skills needed in the workplace. Recognizing the importance of on-the-job training, wage subsidy programs offer employers a cash payment or tax credit for a fixed period to hire targeted workers and provide them with sufficient skill training to ensure their continued employment with the firm after the subsidy period ends.

Self-Employment Programs

Not fitting neatly under either of the above headings are self-employment programs. Like the reemployment bonus, self-employment programs are an innovative attempt to make unemployment insurance less of an income maintenance system and more of a reemployment system. However, rather than being designed to expedite reemployment, the basic idea of self-employment plans is to develop the latent entrepreneurial talent possessed by some displaced workers. In these plans, selected workers are exempted from the usual work search requirements while they receive training in basic business skills and assistance in converting a business idea into a formal business plan. Then, with limited financial assistance, they are turned loose to develop their own small businesses.

Review of the Empirical Evidence

Evidence on many of the program types summarized in Table 1 is available from limited-duration demonstration projects and experiments and other program evaluation studies. This section reviews the empirical evidence available from a series of displaced worker demonstration projects funded by the federal government, a recent evaluation of the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program, and the unemployment insurance reform experiments.

Displaced Worker Studies

During the early 1980s, rising unemployment and an increasing number of plant closures led the U.S. Department of Labor to fund a series of demonstration projects intended to test the effectiveness of alternative reemployment services in placing displaced workers in private-sector jobs. In chronological order, these projects are (1) the Downriver, Michigan, program; (2) the Buffalo program of the Dislocated Worker Demonstration Projects, carried out at six sites across the nation; (3) the Texas Worker Adjustment Demonstration (WAD) projects; and (4) the New Jersey Unemployment Insurance Reemployment Demonstration Project. The

Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
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first two of these programs are limited to male displaced auto and steel workers, and their evaluation results are based on an evaluation design in which the treatment and comparison groups of laid-off workers are drawn from different plants. The Texas WAD and New Jersey studies, discussed below, offer the advantages of including a broader spectrum of displaced workers and of implementing a more reliable random-assignment evaluation design. More information on all four projects is found in Leigh (1995:Ch. 3).

The Texas WAD Program

This program targeted reemployment services to eligible workers under Title III of the Job Training Partnership Act of 1982. Title III specifically directs services to displaced workers. In each of three program sites, eligible workers were randomly assigned to either of two treatment groups or to a control group. The first treatment group was offered job search assistance services only (referred to as Tier I), and members of the second treatment group were offered the same services followed, if necessary, by more expensive classroom training (the Tier I/II sequence). Bloom (1990) reports net impact estimates showing that women may have enjoyed a permanent gain from program participation measured in terms of annual earnings.2 For men, however, although WAD participants were reemployed sooner than otherwise would have been the case, their employment opportunities ultimately were no better than those of the control group. This result for men suggests that the job search assistance component of the Tier I/II sequence is effective in speeding up reemployment, but that the classroom training component has little impact in raising marketable skills.

The Houston WAD site allows the incremental effect of Tier I/II versus Tier I services to be directly estimated for men. Despite the higher costs of Tier II services, the evidence suggests that essentially no additional gains accrued from adding classroom training to job search assistance. Bloom (1990:139) points out that this disappointing result for Tier II services does not necessarily demonstrate that supplementing job search assistance with skill training cannot be an effective service strategy. Rather, he suggests that the blue-collar orientation of Tier II training curriculums available from a local community college was not well matched to the backgrounds and interests of the mostly white-collar participants in the Houston project.

The New Jersey Unemployment Insurance Demonstration

Whereas the Texas WAD project served workers eligible for Title III programs under the Job Training Partnership Act, the New Jersey demonstration project was targeted to unemployment insurance claimants with characteristics common to displaced workers, namely, claimants older than age

Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
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25 who had at least three years of tenure with their prelayoff employer and who could not provide a date at which they expected to be recalled. The project had two primary objectives. The first was to assess the feasibility of an early intervention strategy in which the unemployment insurance system is used to identify early in the claim period unemployed workers who, in the absence of intervention, are likely to face prolonged spells of unemployment and exhaust their benefits. The second objective is to measure the labor market effectiveness of three alternative reemployment strategies.

Unemployment insurance claimants who passed through a series of screens intended to identify individuals who would benefit from early intervention were randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups or to a control group. All eligible claimants assigned to the treatment groups were offered a common set of job search assistance services early in their claim period. The first of these was an orientation session, followed sequentially by testing, a job search workshop, and finally an individual counseling session. Following the counseling session, claimants in the treatment group that received job search assistance services only were free to begin their job search.

Claimants assigned to the job search assistance plus retraining treatment were offered the opportunity to enroll in a classroom training or on-the-job training program. Acceptable classroom training programs were subject to the restriction that their expected duration not exceed six months. Employers who provided on-the-job training slots to claimants received a wage subsidy of 50 percent. All participants assigned to this treatment, whether or not they chose to participate in a classroom training or on-the-job training program, were informed of the availability of relocation assistance. Consistent with the experience of earlier demonstrations, very few Treatment 2 claimants opted to take advantage of relocation assistance. Finally, claimants in the job search assistance plus reemployment bonus group were told of the specifics of the bonus program and turned loose to begin job search. The design of the New Jersey reemployment bonus treatment and available empirical evidence are discussed later in this section.

Corson et al. (1989) present net impact estimates of treatment effects for the first year following the date of filing the initial unemployment insurance claim. These estimates for the job search assistance-only and job search assistance plus retraining treatments tell much the same story as the Texas WAD results. Namely, the job search assistance-only treatment produces quarterly earnings that are significantly higher in the first and second quarters after filing than the earnings of the control group. By the fourth quarter, however, the earnings effect of job search assistance had tailed off to essentially zero. This time pattern would be expected for

Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
×

an intervention intended to speed up reemployment but not to enhance earnings potential.

For job search assistance plus training, there is no evidence of either a permanent increase in earnings or expedited reemployment. Skill training is clearly not expected to speed up reemployment, but the absence of a positive effect on postprogram earnings indicates that training failed to have the anticipated impact on earnings potential. As with the Texas WAD projects, there are extenuating circumstances that help to account for this disappointing result. Corson et al. (1989:14) point to two factors that lead them to conclude that their evidence should be viewed as inconclusive rather than negative. The first is that a very low percentage of claimants (15 percent) assigned to this treatment received training services. Thus, any positive effect of training for claimants who actually enrolled in a training program would be substantially diluted. Second, the 1-year observation period measured since the date of the initial unemployment insurance claim is not long enough to accurately measure postprogram effects of retraining.

The follow-up study of the New Jersey program by Anderson et al. (1991) is useful because of its longer observation period and more detailed look at the job search assistance plus training treatment, including separate net impact estimates for classroom and on-the-job training. Focusing only on claimants who actually participated in a skill training program (as opposed to a random sample of all claimants offered skill training), classroom training is seen in Table 2 to significantly reduce earnings in the initial two quarters. This result is expected since training is likely to be ongoing during these quarters. But thereafter, classroom training increases earnings by as much as $582 per quarter relative to the earnings of claimants receiving job search assistance-only. Much larger and highly significant incremental earnings effects are observed for on-the-job trainees. The authors explain that the primary reason for these very large estimates is that, by the third quarter after the claim date, on-the-job trainees were employed for almost 11 of 13 weeks in that quarter, compared with less than 7 weeks of employment for job search assistance-only claimants. It must also be noted that only 45 individuals actually received services. On-the-job training was utilized infrequently because available slots generally offered lower wages than were thought appropriate for displaced workers.

The Trade Adjustment Assistance Study

The Trade Adjustment Assistance program was created in 1962 to provide income support and, to a lesser extent, retraining to displaced workers who lost their jobs as a consequence of trade agreement conces

Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
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TABLE 2 Estimated Incremental Effects of Classroom Training and On-the-Job Training on the Quarterly Earnings of Training Recipients in the New Jersey Unemployment Insurance Reemployment Demonstration

Quarter

Classroom training

On-the-Job Training

1

$-458**

$1,469***

2

-635***

2,347***

3

-314

2,632***

4

195

2,995***

5

384

3,174***

6

191

2,480***

7

323

2,652***

8

505***

2,681***

9

409*

2,932***

10

582**

3,005***

NOTES: Estimates shown are relative to those for claimants who received job search assistance-only services. ***, **, and * indicate significance at the 1 percent, 5 percent, and 10 percent levels, respectively.

SOURCE: Anderson, Corson, and Decker (1991:Table III.4).

sions. Legislation passed in 1974 raised the level and duration of benefits and removed the linkage between tariff reductions and job losses by making workers eligible for adjustment assistance if expanding trade alone contributed to layoffs. Trade-displaced workers could receive extended unemployment insurance benefits (called Trade Readjustment Allowances or TRAs) for up to 26 weeks beyond the usual six months, with workers enrolled in an approved training program eligible for an additional 26 weeks of benefits. Subsequent legislation implemented in 1981 and further in 1988 reined in the generosity of the program, shifting its emphasis away from income maintenance and toward skill training. The 1988 law requires participation in an approved training program unless a waiver is received. The program has historically served blue-collar workers displaced from jobs in the manufacturing sector.

In the early 1990s, the Department of Labor initiated a major study to assess the labor market impact of TRA benefits and Trade Adjustment Assistance retraining services. In contrast to the short-duration training intended to enhance existing skills offered in New Jersey, the program funds retraining aimed at developing job skills that would allow the displaced to qualify for jobs in new occupations. Much of the training supplied is long-term (longer than a year), and local community colleges and vocational training centers are the major training providers. Benefits recipients are also eligible for job placement services provided by the U.S.

Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
×

Employment Service and for relocation assistance. As was the case in New Jersey, interest was slight in relocation benefits because few TRA recipients were willing to move.

Drawing cases from 10 states, the evaluation of the Trade Adjustment Assistance described in Decker and Corson (1995) is based on interviews with nearly 4,800 sample members broken down into three groups: (1) recipients of TRA income maintenance benefits; (2) trainees, nearly all of whom were receiving TRA benefits; and (3) a comparison sample of unemployment insurance exhaustees whose previous job was in manufacturing. Further disaggregation occurs for training received in 1987–1988 and 1988–1989. To measure the labor market effects of retraining, the authors point out that the more appropriate comparison group is TRA recipients because their characteristics are more similar to those of Trade Adjustment Assistance trainees than those of unemployment insurance exhaustees.

The time pattern of observed earnings differences between trainees and other TRA recipients indicates, as expected, that trainees were foregoing short-run earnings as part of their investment in skill training. However, earnings tend to rise faster for trainees, resulting in their earnings overtaking those of other TRA recipients by the eleventh quarter after the initial claim. For both the pre-1988 and post-1988 samples, Table 3 presents estimates of the impact of training among TRA recipients for the final quarter of the 12-quarter observation period. The first row of the table shows that average earnings among trainees were $228 higher than among other TRA recipients in the pre-1988 sample, and $495 higher in the post-1988 sample. Only the post-1988 difference is statistically significant. Recognizing that differences in observable traits between trainees and other TRA recipients might lead to an upward bias, the estimates appearing in the second row adjust for a variety of personal and jobrelated characteristics, including age, education, and prelayoff weekly wage. Now the training coefficient becomes negative and statistically significant for the pre-1988 sample, and positive but small and statistically insignificant for the post-1988 sample.

Decker and Corson (1995) also point out that, even as late as the end of the eleventh quarter, some 5–10 percent of trainees were still enrolled in a training program. The final two rows of the table show training effects estimated omitting those trainees who were still in training at some point two or more years after their initial unemployment insurance claim. The result, as would be expected, is a larger (or less negative) estimated effect of training. Nevertheless, the final row of the table indicates that skill training did not have a substantial positive effect on the earnings of trainees, at least in the first three years after the initial unemployment insurance claim. Decker and Corson (1995:773) conclude that

Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
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TABLE 3 Estimated Effects of Trade Adjustment Assistance Training on Earnings in Quarter 12, TRA Recipients Only (standard errors in parentheses)

Sample and Inclusion of Control Variables

Pre-1988 Sample

Post-1988 Sample

All TRA recipients:

No control variables

228

(215)

495*

(239)

Control variables included

-416*

(206)

152

(238)

TRA recipients excluding those still in training:

No control variables

490

(251)

777**

(268)

Control variables included

-206

(235)

353

(250)

NOTE: * and ** indicate statistical significance at the 5 percent and 1 percent confidence levels, respectively.

SOURCE: Decker and Corson (1995:Tables 3 and 4).

training participation should be made voluntary rather than mandatory for TRA recipients, with the training requirement replaced with a requirement to participate in a job search program.

The Unemployment Insurance Reform Experiments

Supplementing the displaced worker demonstration projects is evidence gathered from evaluations of proposed reforms of the unemployment insurance system. All three proposed reforms were designed with the dual objectives of speeding up the reemployment of unemployment insurance claimants and reducing the budgetary costs of the system. A first set of reforms focuses on enhanced services to improve claimants' job search skills and on stricter enforcement of the work search rules that determine continuing eligibility for benefits.3 The job search assistance treatment in the New Jersey unemployment insurance demonstration is a test of this first set of reforms. Considered in more detail here are the second and third sets of reforms involving reemployment bonuses and self-employment programs.

Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
×
Reemployment Bonuses

Of the four random-assignment reemployment bonus experiments implemented to date, the earliest is a state-funded program in Illinois conducted between mid-1984 and mid-1985. New unemployment insurance claimants who found a job within 11 weeks of the initial claim (the qualification period) and held that job for at least 4 months (the reemployment period) were paid a cash bonus of $500. As reported by Woodbury and Spiegelman (1987), the program's take-up rate is very high (84 percent) for those eligible, and the treatment was found to reduce unemployment benefits by $158 and unemployment duration by 1.15 weeks over the benefit year. These estimates were obtained for all workers assigned to the treatment, whether or not they agreed to participate and whether or not they actually received the bonus payment. The authors also calculate that benefits were reduced by a striking $2.32 for every $1 paid out in bonuses to claimants.

The very favorable Illinois results led to Department of Labor funding for additional experiments in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Washington. These experiments were designed to provide evidence on how to fine-tune the reemployment bonus concept by introducing more variation in the amount and timing of bonus payments. In the New Jersey Unemployment Insurance Reemployment Demonstration, the maximum reemployment bonus was specified to be one-half of the claimant's total entitlement, defined as a lump-sum payment capturing the stream of benefit payments to be received over the remaining weeks of unemployment eligibility. The maximum bonus could be collected by accepting a job during the first two weeks after agreeing to participate in the program at the counseling interview. After these two weeks, the size of the bonus decreased by 10 percent per week, reaching zero at the end of the eleventh week after counseling. To qualify for the bonus, the claimant's new job must be full time with a new employer. The Pennsylvania and Washington experiments offered two and three levels of bonus payments, respectively, expressed as multiples of average weekly benefit amounts, combined with two levels of the qualification period. The reemployment period was about 4 months in all three post-Illinois experiments.

As described by Meyer (1995:96–112), the subsequent bonus experiments were all found to have much smaller effects than in Illinois. In particular, bonuses reduce receipt of unemployment benefits by about one-half of a week, or about 3 percent of the average duration of receipt. Estimates in this range are about the same as those obtained for job search assistance programs, but at a much higher cost due to the bonus payments. Following a flurry of excitement generated by the Illinois experiment, the less favorable results reported for the subsequent experiments dampened economists' enthusiasm for the reemployment bonus concept. Nevertheless, a reemployment bonus was included among changes in the

Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
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unemployment insurance system recommended by the Clinton administration in the proposed Reemployment Act of 1994.

Self-Employment Programs

In the late 1980s, the Department of Labor initiated two demonstration projects to test the effectiveness of self-employment as an alternative reemployment strategy for unemployment insurance claimants. The Washington project began in September 1989 and supplied program services through March 1991. The Massachusetts project began in May 1990 as a 3-year demonstration project. Both projects are early intervention programs providing services that include 20 hours of training in basic business skills, counseling, and financial assistance in the form of biweekly unemployment benefits. Along with these similarities, the projects differed in two important respects. First, the Massachusetts project was targeted to unemployed workers judged likely to exhaust their benefits. The Washington project did not impose this targeting restriction. Second, the Washington project provided, in addition to regular payments, a lump-sum payment equal to remaining unemployment benefits to those who completed five project milestones, defined as completing a set of four business training modules, developing an acceptable business plan, opening a business bank account, satisfying all licensing requirements, and obtaining adequate funding.

Both self-employment demonstrations were formally evaluated using a random assignment methodology. As reported by Benus et al. (1994), the most favorable of the net impact findings is that the programs sharply increased the likelihood of self-employment and accelerated its start. These estimates were obtained over follow-up periods averaging about 21 months in Washington and 19 months in Massachusetts. Other program net impact estimates for self-employment earnings, wage and salary earnings, and employment of nonparticipants tend to show smaller or no effect. Perhaps the most important finding from the demonstrations is that interest in self-employment is not strong among unemployment insurance claimants. Benus et al. (1994:ii) comment that ''while many profess an interest in self-employment, relatively few choose to pursue self-employment when the opportunity arises.''

Recent Reemployment Initiatives

In addition to the reemployment services tested in the demonstration projects and experiments discussed in the previous section, it is useful to briefly consider several initiatives that have recently been implemented but for which evaluation evidence is yet unavailable. These include state programs implementing a worker profiling strategy, a training voucher program in New Jersey, and a Canadian earnings subsidy program.

Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
×
Worker Profiling

The New Jersey Unemployment Insurance Reemployment Demonstration provided the empirical basis for congressional action taken in 1993 to require states to establish a system for profiling new unemployment insurance claimants. The intent of profiling systems is two-fold: early identification of displaced workers who are at risk of exhausting their unemployment insurance benefits and a linking of these individuals with appropriate reemployment services in a timely fashion. The 1993 legislation also requires claimants referred to reemployment services to participate in these services as a condition of eligibility for unemployment benefits.

The Department of Labor recently initiated a major 4-year study of state profiling systems. Hawkins et al. (1995) presents interim findings from Phase I of the study focusing on implementation of profiling systems in Delaware, Florida, Kentucky, Maryland, New Jersey, and Oregon. (Phases II and III will present net impact estimates.) The Phase I evaluation is based on the following sources of information: site visits of the research team to each of the six states, information collected from profiling proposals and administrative reports, and a customer satisfaction survey of profiled and referred claimants in the six states. Drawing on this information, the profiling systems of most states were found to provide a sequence of services including a group orientation session; an assessment interview, usually provided in a one-on-one setting; and the development of a service plan. Four states, in addition, supplied claimants with a job search workshop. Finally, all of the local sites included referrals to other services, generally referrals for education and job skills training, but also for such supportive services as child care.

The survey of customer satisfaction conducted during the summer of 1995 has the objective of providing states with early feedback on claimants' satisfaction with profiling services. Keeping in mind that profiling systems are quite new, Hawkins et al. (1995:E-9-E-10) report the following findings:

  • Older workers generally were more satisfied with services than younger workers, perhaps because the program helped them address the added challenge they face in finding appropriate reemployment. Overall satisfaction seemed not to be related to claimants' previous wage level or job tenure.

  • Among specific services, claimants rated development of an individual service plan as one of the most helpful. Moreover, those who reported receiving assistance in developing a plan were significantly more satisfied with the program overall than other claimants.

Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
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  • More important than the receipt of any particular service was the intensity of services received. Claimants who received more types of reemployment services and those who received more hours of services were substantially more satisfied with their profiling program overall.

Training Vouchers

An important provision of the Reemployment Act of 1994 would have encouraged displaced workers to enroll in longer-term education and training programs by allowing eligible workers to qualify for up to one year of income support beyond the usual six-month maximum for unemployment insurance benefits.4 Although the act failed to achieve congressional approval, President Clinton has continued to emphasize the importance of long-term skill training. Specifically, he proposed in his 1995 State of the Union Address the elimination of essentially all adult training programs, with the money saved to be shifted to "skill grants" that eligible workers could use to pay for training programs of their choice lasting up to two years.

In 1992 the New Jersey legislature authorized the Workforce Development Partnership Program, an important component of which is a voucher-based training program targeted to displaced and economically disadvantaged workers. (The other two key components are additional unemployment benefits during training and grants to employers for customized training services.) The maximum training grant per person is $4,000, with an additional grant of up to $1,000 if the participant requires remedial education prior to training. Training services must be provided by an approved service provider, which in practice means a proprietary school or 2-year community college.

Using the unemployment insurance system, newly displaced workers are processed through a series of screens before they are admitted to the Individual Training Grant Program. The complexity of the screening process can perhaps best be visualized in the series of steps shown in Table 4 (for more detail see Benus and Grover 1995: Exhibit 1).

A key element of the training program is the development of an individualized job placement plan designed to help place participants in training-related jobs. Following the completion of training, participants are also invited to attend a postprogram job search seminar.

Descriptive statistics supplied by Benus and Grover (1995) in an initial report of the evaluation study indicate that of over 900,000 new unemployment insurance claimants during the July 1992 to October 1994 period, about 9 percent attended a Workforce Development Partnership Program orientation meeting, and about 14 percent of those oriented received an individual training grant. The demographic characteristics of

Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
×

TABLE 4 Screening Process for the individual Training Grant Program

1. Benefits Rights Interview. Displaced workers file for unemployment insurance and are informed about the Workforce Development Partnership Program and other training options at their benefit rights interview.

2. Orientation. Those claimants who indicate an interest in training are invited to attend an orientation meeting at a local Employment Service office at which a more in-depth description of training options is provided. At the end of the meeting, a questionnaire is completed by all individuals still interested in training.

3. Career Reemployment Seminar. Individuals who, based on their questionnaire responses, meet targeting criteria are scheduled for a half-day career reemployment seminar. A testing and assessment interview may be part of this seminar.

4. Meeting with Counselor. A final determination of eligibility for the program is made at this meeting.

5. Agreement on an Employment Development Plan and a Training Contract . For individuals judged to be eligible, the client and counselor work out an employment development plan describing the client's training and employment goals. Then a training contract is agreed to which details the type, length, cost, and dates of training.

6. Training Begins.

 

SOURCE: Adapted from Benus and Grover (1995:Exhibit 1).

claimants oriented and grant recipients are quite similar. Compared with the typical unemployment insurance claimant, however, the grant recipients are more likely to be female, to be between the ages of 30 and 49, and to possess a terminal high school diploma or equivalency certificate. Blacks are overrepresented among grant recipients, and Hispanics are underrepresented. Approximately half of all trainees planned to enroll in a short training program of six months or less, and another one-quarter planned enrollment in programs lasting more than one year. About twothirds of all grants ranged between $3,000 and $4,000. Net impact estimates for the individual training grant program will be available in subsequent reports.

Earnings Subsidies

Motivating the earnings subsidy as a policy intervention to assist displaced workers is evidence such as that provided by Jacobson et al. (1993a, 1993b) showing that displaced workers frequently suffer very large earnings losses. Because the gap between earnings losses and current

Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
×

levels of public assistance is so large, the authors (1993b:160–69) suggest that alternative policy measures should be investigated, and their preference is for an earnings subsidy program.5

An earnings subsidy program works by paying reemployed displaced workers some fraction of the gap between their pre-and postdisplacement earnings. In this way, the greatest level of assistance flows to those suffering the greatest earnings losses. In addition, the subsidy is restricted to those who find a new job, so that displaced workers have an incentive to return to work quickly. The unemployment insurance system also targets the greatest assistance to workers who face the most difficult transition, since workers who are unemployed longer tend to have both more difficult transitions and to receive the most assistance. However, unemployment insurance has a built-in work disincentive, since assistance ends at reemployment. This work disincentive is especially strong for displaced workers who suffer large earnings losses because the benefits are based, in part, on predisplacement earnings. Thus, regular unemployment insurance benefits might be as much as 75 percent or even higher of the wages that such workers could expect to earn in their postdisplacement job.6

The Canadian government is currently conducting an experiment at five sites to test the effectiveness of an earnings subsidy program for displaced workers. As described by Bloom et al. (1995), the experiment is restricted to a carefully selected subset of unemployed people who must be new unemployment insurance claimants and have been employed continuously during the 3 previous years. Claimants who meet these criteria are randomly assigned to treatment and control groups. Those in the treatment group receive an explanation of the earning subsidy plan. They then receive the subsidy if they become reemployed in a full-time job with a new employer within 26 weeks of the date of the subsidy offer, and the reemployment job pays less than the predisplacement job. The subsidy offsets 75 percent of the claimant's weekly earnings loss up to a maximum of $250 per week for a period not to exceed 24 months from the time of the subsidy offer.

To consider an example offered by Bloom et al. (1995), suppose that a member of the treatment group lost a job that paid $400 per week and then found a new full-time job that paid $200 per week within six months after receiving the subsidy offer. He or she would receive a weekly subsidy of $150 (three-quarters of the earnings loss of $200), providing a total weekly compensation of $350 for working full-time. In contrast, unemployment insurance benefits for this individual would be $220 per week. A clear work incentive exists since the earnings subsidy plan provides the claimant an earnings replacement rate of 87.5 percent for up to 24 months

Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
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as opposed to a replacement rate of 55 percent offered by regular unemployment insurance for up to 50 weeks.

Bloom et al. report that, as of fall 1995, the earnings subsidy program is up and running in all project sites. Approximately 5,000 claimants are to be included in both the treatment and control groups. Program net impact estimates will eventually be obtained from a follow-up survey collecting information on employment and earnings which will be administered to sample members at 15 months after they enter the study.

Summary and Policy Implications

This paper provides an overview of major policy proposals put forward to assist the reemployment of displaced workers, subject to the limitation that the proposals discussed have been or are currently being evaluated. Broadly speaking, these proposals fall into one of two categories: policies to speed up reemployment and policies to replenish lost earnings potential. Self-employment programs, which do not fit comfortably under either heading, are also considered, but the available evidence suggests that relatively few displaced workers are interested in pursuing such programs.

Expediting Reemployment

Among policies intended primarily to expedite reemployment, a great deal of evidence is available on the effectiveness of job search assistance services; and more evidence is forthcoming as net income estimates become available from state profiling programs. This evidence consistently shows that these services are effective in speeding up reemployment. Given their low cost, they are also typically found to be cost-effective. Early intervention with job search assistance is a basic level of services that should be made widely available to displaced workers.

The existing evidence is less favorable for relocation assistance and reemployment bonuses. A reluctance of displaced workers to relocate geographically is found to limit the usefulness of relocation assistance. Early evidence from a reemployment bonus program in Illinois indicated considerable promise that bonuses effectively speed up reemployment by offsetting the incentive of unemployment insurance claimants to delay serious job search until the end of their eligibility. Three subsequent experiments suggest, however, that reemployment bonus plans are no more effective than job search assistance programs, but at much higher cost.

Earnings subsidies have also received recent attention as a policy option that meets the dual objectives of encouraging an earlier return to

Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
×

employment and directing assistance to the displaced workers experiencing the largest earnings losses. The Canadian government is currently implementing an earnings subsidy experiment from which net impact estimates will soon be available. This experiment should help to resolve uncertainties about the labor market effectiveness and cost of earnings subsidy programs.

Replenishing Earnings Potential

Displaced workers found to be in need of skill upgrading in order to compete effectively for jobs in growing industries are usually referred to either classroom training or firm-based training programs. Since the employer shares in the costs, firm-based programs offer the advantage of providing training that will actually be utilized on the job. A large body of evidence using nonexperimental data indicates that there is a substantial labor market payoff to company-provided training. A similar result, but for a very small number of on-the-job training recipients, is also reported for the wage subsidy implemented as part of the New Jersey Unemployment Insurance Reemployment Demonstration.

The major problem with wage subsidy schemes is not that the on-the-job training they encourage is ineffective, but that it is difficult to interest employers in hiring targeted workers. For example, Bishop and Montgomery (1986) report that employer participation rates are extremely low for four targeted wage subsidy programs in operation in the United States through 1980. Rather than the carrot of a wage subsidy, other nations, namely, France and Australia, have experimented with a stick approach of requiring employers to make training expenditures equal to a percentage of their payrolls or to be subject to a payroll training tax (see Leigh, 1995). This approach has been discussed but not implemented in this country.

Results from the displaced worker demonstrations are more mixed for classroom skill training programs. Only the follow-up study of the New Jersey unemployment insurance demonstration focusing specifically on individuals who actually received classroom training services (as distinct from the random sample of all eligible individuals offered it) yields evidence of a positive effect of classroom training above that of job search assistance only. It is worth noting that the short-term, low-cost training provided in New Jersey was designed to upgrade workers' existing skills rather than to furnish training for a new occupation. In contrast, participants in the Trade Adjustment Assistance program received longer-term training intended to equip them to enter a new occupation or industry. Evaluation results for the program are positive in the sense that the longer-term investments in classroom training allowed the earnings of the train

Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
×

ees to reach the level of earnings of a comparison group of displaced workers, most of whom may be presumed to be industry and occupation stayers. (Displaced workers reemployed in the same occupation and industry typically experience smaller earnings losses than occupation and industry switchers.)

On the basis of this evidence, it seems prudent to conclude that classroom training should be limited to carefully selected workers who can be matched with training curricula tailored to their backgrounds and the needs of local employers. A training voucher program appears to be an appropriate policy for allowing selected individuals to exercise freedom of choice in choosing a training curriculum while effectively utilizing the nation's extensive system of postsecondary educational institutions. Evaluation results will be available in the near future for a voucher-based training program implemented in New Jersey.

Notes

1.  

The usual argument for publicly funded assistance is that, whereas society as a whole benefits from maintaining a dynamic, generally open domestic economy, the inevitable adjustment costs are disproportionately borne by displaced workers. Hence, some form of compensation is due the displaced because of "fairness" considerations and the necessity of preempting political intervention that would restrict trade and the introduction of new technology.

2.  

In principle, the labor market effectiveness of a program is measured by comparing, say, the earnings of program participants with what their earnings would have been in the absence of the program. Of course, the level of earnings that participants would have earned in the program's absence is never observed, and thus it is termed the counterfactual. There are two commonly used approaches to obtaining the counterfactual estimate needed to obtain a net impact estimate. The nonexperimental approach uses an externally selected comparison group of workers and adjusts statistically for inherent differences between the treatment and comparison groups. In the alternative experimental approach, random assignment of eligible workers to treatment and control groups means that there are no inherent differences in the observable and unobservable characteristics of the two groups.

3.  

Results obtained for the job search experiments are examined in detail in Meyer (1995:112–121).

4.  

Providing empirical support for this provision is a widely cited study by Kane and Rouse (1995) that shows that labor market returns per year of community college credits are positive and essentially the same as the returns per year of credits at 4-year colleges and universities. Community colleges are the major subcontractor to government agencies charged with implementing retraining programs.

5.  

Baily et al. (1993:204) also recommend the adoption of an earnings subsidy program to help cushion the heavy financial blow associated with displacement.

6.  

Relative to regular unemployment insurance, unemployment insurance reemployment bonus schemes also increase the incentive to return to work. However, reemployment bonuses do a less effective job in targeting assistance to workers most in need of help because bonuses are either fixed in size or contingent on the claimant's unemployment insurance entitlement, whereas earnings subsidy plans directly relate the subsidy to the size of the earnings loss.

Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
×

References

Anderson, Patricia, Walter Corson, and Paul Decker 1991 The New Jersey Unemployment Insurance Reemployment Demonstration Project Follow-Up Report. Unemployment Insurance Occasional Paper 91–1, U.S. Department of Labor.


Bally, Martin N., Gary Burtless, and Robert E. Litan 1993 Growth with Equity: Economic Policymaking for the Next Century . Washington, DC: Brookings Institution.

Benus, Jacob M., and Neelima Grover 1995 Exploring New Alternatives to Worker Retraining. Paper prepared for the 17th Annual Research Conference of the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management, Washington, DC (November 2–4).

Benus, Jacob M., Michelle Wood, and Neelima Grover 1994 A Comparative Analysis of the Washington and Massachusetts UI Self Employment Demonstrations. Cambridge, MA: Abt Associates (January).

Bishop, John H., and Mark Montgomery 1986 Evidence on firm participation in employment subsidy programs. Industrial Relations 25(Winter):56–64.

Bloom, Howard S. 1990 Back to Work: Testing Reemployment Services for Displaced Workers . Kalamazoo, MI: W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.

Bloom, Howard S., Barbara Fink, Susanna Gurr, and Wendy Bancroft 1995 The Canadian Earnings Supplement Project (ESP): Subsidizing Reemployment Instead of Subsidizing Unemployment. Paper prepared for the 17th Annual Research Conference of the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management, Washington, DC (November 2–4).


Corson, Walter, Paul Decker, Shari Dunstan, and Stuart Kerachsky 1989 New Jersey Unemployment Insurance Reemployment Demonstration Project. Unemployment Insurance Occasional Paper 89–3, U.S. Department of Labor.


Decker, Paul T., and Walter Corson 1995 International trade and worker displacement: Evaluation of the Trade Adjustment Assistance Program. Industrial and Labor Relations Review 48 (July):758–774.


Hawkins, Evelyn K., Suzanne D. Kreutzer, Katherine P. Dickinson, Paul T. Decker, and Walter S. Corson 1995 Evaluation of Worker Profiling and Reemployment Services Systems . Menlo Park, CA: Social Policy Research Associates (September).


Jacobson, Louis S., Robert J. LaLonde, and Daniel G. Sullivan 1993a Earnings losses of displaced workers. American Economic Review 83(September):685–709.

1993b The Costs of Worker Dislocation. Kalamazoo, MI: W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.


Kane, Thomas K., and Cecilia E. Rouse 1995 Labor-market returns to two-and four-year college. American Economic Review 85(June):600–614.


Leigh, Duane E. 1995 Assisting Workers Displaced by Structural Change: An International Perspective. Kalamazoo, MI: W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.

Lynch, Lisa 1992 Private-sector training and the earnings of young workers. American Economic Review 82(March):299–312.

Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
×

Meyer, Bruce D. 1995 Lessons from the U.S. unemployment insurance experiments. Journal of Economic Literature 33(March):91–131.


Neal, Derek 1995 Industry-specific human capital: Evidence from displaced workers. Journal of Labor Economics 13(October):653–677.


Woodbury, Stephen A., and Robert G. Spiegelman 1987 Bonuses to workers and employers to reduce unemployment: Randomized trials in Illinois. American Economic Review 77(September):513–530.

Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
×

REMARKS ON THE JOBS WORKSHOP AND PROJECT

Amiram Vinokur

Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan

The JOBS Workshop is the focus of a project conducted at the Institute for Social Research over the last 10 years. The project is funded by the National Institute for Mental Health, and its mission is to create programs for job search assistance that prevent the deterioration of mental health among unemployed people, and all the negative consequences of poor mental health: child abuse, spousal abuse, poor physical health, and so forth. The project is directed by several research scientists, including myself, with backgrounds in social psychology and organizational psychology. We designed the JOBS Workshop as an early intervention to prevent deterioration of mental health among unemployed people by speeding up the reemployment process. The research suggests that, when people become reemployed, their mental health is restored to the same level as when they were previously employed. In addition to speedy reemployment, in this project we have also been interested in the quality of reemployment both in terms of earnings and of people liking their new job.

The JOBS Project has been run as a scientific experiment with two very large trials—one with 900 unemployed and the second with almost 2,000 unemployed people recruited from the lines at the Michigan Unemployment Service Offices. People were approached while waiting in line and were told about two programs being offered by the University of Michigan on how to seek jobs. One was described as a self-guided booklet and the other as a 2-week series of morning sessions. Those selected had been unemployed less than 4 months and employed prior to that for at least 3 years. People 2 years short of retirement or who expected to be recalled to their jobs were also screened out. The resulting samples were demographically very similar to the unemployed population in the United States.

The results of the JOBS Workshop have been dramatic. In the first 1 to 4 months after the workshop, those who participated in it had higher employment rates and higher-quality employment than those who used the self-guided booklet. The workshop participants without jobs had higher levels of self-esteem and motivation for job search than those in the self-guided group without jobs. Two years later, those who participated in the workshop were more likely to be working full time and less likely to have switched jobs. They were also likely to be earning more per month than the employed from the self-guided group. (We have found that older workshop participants have more difficulty in finding high-

Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
×

quality jobs quickly than do younger participants.) Cost-benefit analyses of the workshops indicate significant gains over cost for individual participants (and for state and federal governments in terms of taxes collected).

We believe there are several unique features of the JOBS Workshop that account for its success in terms of both speed and quality of reemployment. The first of these is the extensive training provided to the trainers or facilitators who run the workshop. The workshop is run by a male-female pair of trainers who have received 300 hours of training before beginning the workshop. This training is designed to help the trainers establish themselves as experts with their workshop participants. Trainers are also taught to facilitate self-disclosure both for themselves and the workshop participants. This helps to quickly establish an atmosphere. The second unique feature of the JOBS Workshop is the use of active learning. All participants learn how to do job search by actively engaging in practice job search sessions. These sessions are designed to directly demonstrate to each participant that he or she does have what it takes to get a job. We focus on getting each participant to think like an employer. During these sessions, participants are continually coached and their behaviors reinforced by the trainers and the other participants. A third unique feature is that all workshop sessions identify barriers that participants will encounter in searching for jobs and help them prepare to ''inoculate themselves'' against the resulting negative feelings. This feature is meant to help people maintain their motivation and energy for the job search despite setbacks.

We have developed extensive documentation of the JOBS Workshop that includes all the information used to train the trainers as well as all the materials used in the workshops. Recently, we have been approached by the government of Finland to implement this workshop for those who are currently employed but may be laid off in 6 months to 1 year. One question we want to answer is, "Will people who are not currently without a job actually use and benefit from the workshop?" We will also be implementing the workshops for people who are recently unemployed at selected sites in California.

Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
×
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×
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Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
×
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Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
×
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Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
×
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Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
×
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Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
×
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Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
×
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Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
×
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Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
×
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Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
×
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Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
×
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Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
×
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Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
×
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Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
×
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Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
×
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Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
×
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Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
×
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Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
×
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Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
×
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Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
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Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
×
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Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
×
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Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
×
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Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
×
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Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
×
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Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
×
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Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
×
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Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
×
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Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
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Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
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Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
×
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Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
×
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Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
×
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Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
×
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Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
×
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Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
×
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Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
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Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
×
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Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
×
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Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
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Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
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Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
×
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Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
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Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
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Suggested Citation:"PART I: OUTPLACEMENT RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE." National Research Council. 1996. Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5307.
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Next: PART II: INDUSTRY EXPERIENCE WITH OUTPLACEMENT »
Issues in Civilian Outplacement Strategies: Proceedings of a Workshop Get This Book
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In the past six years, planned downsizing has reduced the civilian work force of the U.S. Department of Defense from over 1 million to just under 850,000. By 2001, approximately 119,000 more civilian jobs will be eliminated. The reemployment picture for civilians is not strong, and the economic impact of base closings will also be felt by the surrounding communities.

This book presents creative ideas for civilian outplacement based on or suggested by private-sector experiences. It discusses a number of issues that the Department of Defense must consider in its outplacement efforts, including organizational planning for effective outplacement services, whether or not to customize services for particular types of employees, monitoring outplacement practices to learn what works, and working with local communities in providing both job search and social services.

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