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Job Corps: High Costs and Mixed Results Raise Questions About Program's Effectiveness

HEHS-95-180 Published: Jun 30, 1995. Publicly Released: Jun 30, 1995.
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Highlights

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on Job Corps program operations, focusing on: (1) who is being served and the services provided; (2) the outcomes that the program is achieving in relation to program cost and employers' satisfaction with Job Corps students they hire; and (3) whether the long-standing practice of awarding sole-source contracts for vocational training services is cost-effective.

Recommendations

Recommendations for Executive Action

Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Labor To ensure that Job Corps vocational training programs are provided in the most efficient and effective manner, the Secretary of Labor should revisit whether the continued use of national training contractors is cost effective.
Closed – Implemented
Labor initiated a new system to compare the performance of national contractors with overall Job Corps center performance as a basis for evaluating performance. In addition, Labor will review all Job Corps vocational course offerings to ensure that they are for occupations with a labor market demand.

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Topics

Cost effectiveness analysisDisadvantaged personsEducation or training costsLabor statisticsSole source procurementYouth employment programsJob corpsStudentsVocational education and trainingDisadvantaged youth