The Employment for Empowerment program aims to promote the integration into employment of non-employed individuals registered with social services departments in an effort to extricate the families from poverty and reduce their dependence on the departments. An additional goal is to provide them with tools to help them manage their household budget. The program was initiated by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Services (MOSAS) and implemented as a pilot by the nonprofit organization Be-Atzmi in ten localities throughout Israel in 2011 and 2012.
The program was accompanied by an evaluation that examined a broad range of outcomes for the participants after one year in the program and again after a second year, using a wide range of sources of information and study instruments. The main goals of the study were:
-
To examine the implementation of the model in the participating localities, to assess the difficulties that came up and to identify the problem-solving strategies developed and the changes introduced in the model in order to meet the challenges.
-
To study the characteristics of the new role of employment social worker (ESW), in preparation for the development of a special training track to be part of the social work curriculum.
-
To examine the integration of participants into the labor market one year after the start of the program and assess the impact of the program on the change in employment, by comparing the participants with a control group.
-
To examine the improvement in employment of employed participants.
-
To examine the cost-benefit of the program in terms of its contribution to the economy.
Examination of the outcomes after one year and again after the second year revealed the following:
-
The percentage of employed participants increased from 38% at the start of the program to 66% a year later.
-
55% of the participants who were not working at the start of the program were employed one year later.
-
The program improved the employment status of the participants by 29 percentage points beyond the change in the control group.
-
Among the participants employed one year later, the percentage of those receiving income support benefits declined from 22% to 13%.
-
80% of the participants who were employed at the end of the first year remained in employment after 2 years. A third of them had advanced in some respect.
-
The calculation of the benefit and cost to the economy, shows that given the success rates of the program after one year, the program returned investment in a relatively short time.
The study findings were presented regularly to the program’s advisory committee to help shape and improve the program during its implementation. They were also presented to the director general and senior staff of MOSAS. They are currently being used as the basis for a substantial expansion of the Ministry’s employment programs.
Citing suggestion: King, J., Hadar, Y., & Wolde-Tsadick, A. (2014). Employment for Empowerment (Ta’asuka le-Revakha). ES-43-14 ; RR-675-14. Myers-JDC-Brookdale Institute. (Hebrew)