Does Coordination of Welfare Services’ Delivery Make a Difference for Extremely Disadvantaged Jobseekers? Evidence from the 'YP4' Trial

31 Pages Posted: 5 Apr 2013

See all articles by Jeff Borland

Jeff Borland

University of Melbourne - Department of Economics

Yi-Ping Tseng

University of Melbourne - Melbourne Institute: Applied Economic & Social Research

R Wilkins

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Date Written: March 2013

Abstract

Fragmented welfare service delivery has been identified as a significant barrier to improving outcomes for highly disadvantaged individuals. The ‘YP4’ trial, conducted from 2005 to 2009, sought to evaluate, by randomised control method, an approach proposed by Campbell et al. (2003) for integrating delivery of employment, housing, health and other services for young homeless jobseekers. Rather than providing extra access to services or utilisation of different services, the YP4 trial involved assignment of a case manager to help tailor and coordinate available services to reflect the specific circumstances of young homeless jobseekers. We find that the YP4 program did not have a significant effect on economic or psychological wellbeing, a finding that is robust to application of experimental and quasi-experimental methods. It is argued that our study contributes to knowledge on program design, particularly in relation to the importance of the scale of intervention and program administration.

Keywords: Welfare programs, disadvantaged jobseekers, randomised controlled trials, program evaluation

JEL Classification: I38, J08, J64, D04

Suggested Citation

Borland, Jeff and Tseng, Yi-Ping and Wilkins, Roger, Does Coordination of Welfare Services’ Delivery Make a Difference for Extremely Disadvantaged Jobseekers? Evidence from the 'YP4' Trial (March 2013). Melbourne Institute Working Paper No. 12/13, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2245320 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2245320

Jeff Borland

University of Melbourne - Department of Economics ( email )

Victoria 3010, 3010
Australia

Yi-Ping Tseng

University of Melbourne - Melbourne Institute: Applied Economic & Social Research ( email )

Level 5, FBE Building, 111 Barry Street
Parkville, Victoria 3010
Australia

Roger Wilkins (Contact Author)

affiliation not provided to SSRN

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