Table 1 Demonstrations and employment programs implemented before 2000

Structured Training and Employment Transitional Services (STETS) (Department of Labor) (Kerachsky and Thornton 1987)

Random assignment demonstration implemented between November 1981 and December 1982 in five US cities.

Intervention consisted of three phases of work interventions: (1) an introductory work exposure period, (2) actual employment with on-the-job training (or supported employment), and (3) postemployment follow-up and job supports.

Included 467 youth ages 18 to 24 who had IQ scores between 40 and 80 (many of whom received SSI and/or SSDI benefits).

22-month impacts

Percent employed

Control: 19.0 percent

Treatment: 31.0 percent

Annualized earnings

Control: $3,340

Treatment: $5,816

Mean benefit amounts

Control: $3,228

Treatment: $5,620

Transitional Employment Training Demonstration (TETD) (Decker and Thornton 1995)

Random assignment demonstration implemented between 1985 and 1987 in 13 demonstration communities.

Intervention included job placement, on-the-job training, and job-retention services. Treatment group members could receive time-limited (one-year) job-placement services or on-the-job training as part of the program.

Included 745 SSI beneficiaries who were between ages 18 and 40 and were diagnosed with an intellectual disability.

Year 6 impacts

Percent employed

Control: 41.8 percent

Treatment: 50.8 percent

Annualized earnings

Control: $12,514

Treatment: $21,483

Benefit amounts

Control mean: $5,475

Treatment mean: $5,137

Project NetWork (Kornfeld and Rupp 2000; Rupp and Bell 2003)

Random assignment demonstration implemented in eight sites around the country from 1992 to 1994.

Intervention included intensive, employment-focused case-management services to test the efficacy of case-management services in moving people with severe disabilities into full-time employment and off the disability rolls. Treatment group members received case-management services; control-group members remained eligible for any employment assistance in their communities.

Included 8,428 SSI beneficiaries and applicants, as well as SSDI beneficiaries who were between ages 15 and 65, without regard to the nature of their disability.

Year 2 impacts

Percent employed

Control: 13.6 percent

Treatment: 15.5 percent

Annualized earnings

Control: $3,495

Treatment: $3,850

State Partnership Initiative (SPI) (Peikes et al. 2005)

Random assignment demonstration in four projects in three states implemented from 1999 through 2004.

The projects varied in scope, but they all generally provided services in one of the following approaches: (1) improving information about the effect of work on benefit receipt (benefits counseling), (2) encouraging the use of available work incentives, (3) testing modifications to program rules to allow SSI beneficiaries to earn and save more, and (4) providing better access to vocational supports.

Included 3,366 SSDI and SSI beneficiaries in four random assignment projects.

Year 1 impacts

Percent employed ranged across sites from no impact to

Control: 27.1 percent

Treatment: 44.1 percent

No earnings impacts, though one site had negative impacts on earnings.

The SPI evaluation did not assess effects on cash disability benefits.