The Employment and Earnings Impacts of the Targeted Jobs Tax Credit

The Targeted Jobs Tax Credit (TJTC) is intended to stimulate the employment of individuals who are members of certain groups of the labor force by providing a wage subsidy (in the form of a tax credit) to employers of recently-hired eligible workers. This intervention into the labor market has direct and indirect earnings and employment consequences for both eligible and ineligible individuals. The paper evaluates the impacts of TJTC by using a treatment and comparison group methodology. Corrections for nonrandom selection are undertaken. The primary sources of data are state quarterly wage record data from the Unemployment Insurance system and the Employment Service Automated Reporting System (ESARS). The results indicate that the availability and usage of TJTC enhances outcomes for nonwhite male youth (both eligible and ineligible), but is stigmatizing for eligible individuals from other race/sex groups, who appear to be slightly worse off because of the program than their ineligible counterparts. Obtaining a voucher increases employment and wages, but it appears as if selection effects are responsible. Importantly, the improved outcomes are not accompanied by displacement effects. Finally, being certified results in increased wages, but higher turnover and lower total employment.targeted, tax, job, credit, employment, earnings, Hollenbeck, Willke

Dislocated Worker Human Capital Depreciation and Recovery

Previous studies have estimated the "human capital depreciation" of women re-entering the work force after voluntary, lengthy interruptions. Those studies have found reduced real wages and furthermore the decrease is positively related to the length of the interruption. Upon re-entry, however, real wages grow rapidly as human capital is restored. This paper develops a model of the wage histories of dislocated workers. Similar to labor force re-entrants, those dislocated workers who become re-employed would experience wages below their final wage prior to dislocation and the decrease should be associated with the length of dislocation. However, the model suggests that since the career disruptions are involuntary and since occupational shifts generally occur, recovery will not be rapid nor complete. The model is estimated with data from a sample of workers in Ohio who had been dislocated and received services under Title III of the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA). This data set has the limitation that the observations are for workers who chose to receive services, but it also has the advantage that the effects of a variety of training interventions on outcomes can be determined.dislocated, workers, JTPA, Hollenbeck

The Role of Public Policy in Skills Development of Black Workers in the 21st Century

This paper discusses the role of public policy in the skills development system of the U.S. It further examines the implications of that policy for the skill development and career progression of black workers. The paper describes the current "system" for skills development in the United States as a two-tiered system: The "first-chance" or conventional system allows individuals to proceed through an extensive public elementary, secondary, and postsecondary educational sector that is supplemented by private educational institutions and is followed by employer-provided job training and work experience. The "second-chance" system is designed for individuals who do not successfully traverse the first-chance system. The second-chance system includes public job training programs, public assistance, rehabilitation programs for offenders, and educational remediation. The public agency for labor market exchange, the Employment Service, has tended to play a significant role in facilitating employment in the second-chance system. Paradoxically, despite the tremendous success of the U.S. economy, including the fact that it has the world's leading level of worker productivity, there is a pervasive perception that the current system for skills development in the U.S. is failing. Lagging school achievement (particularly in urban areas), high unemployment rates for certain groups of the population, and employer concerns about the quality of entry level workers suggest that the current system may be neither efficient nor equitable. The paper starts out by considering the rationale for public policy intervention in the skills development process. It then reviews public policy at the federal, state, and local levels that fosters skills development. At the federal level, the major policy emphasis currently is the consolidation of job training and labor market exchange programs through the Workforce Investment Act (WIA). State and local entities administer federal programs, but many states have also enacted supplemental programs in the area of skills development. After examining specific federal and state/local policy, the paper reviews recent policy demonstrations in the area of skills development. The review of the evaluative evidence leads to several general "best practice" principles about content, delivery mechanisms, and administrative characteristics. The last section of the paper reviews how well federal WIA programs are likely to fare against the best practices criteria. The major thrusts in skills development policy have been accountability, market-driven choice, decentralization/devolution, emphasis on immediate work, private-sector leadership, and consolidation. The policy characteristics that are in disfavor seem to be eligibility set asides, process regulations, service delivery by administrative agencies, subsidized education and training, technical assistance, and research and development. African Americans, who reside disproportionately in urban areas and who participate in the second-chance system, will be affected by these changes in emphasis. Public policy has evolved from a top-down, centralized system with regulatory protections and emphasis on equal access to an open, decentralized system operated largely by state bureaucrats and governed by individuals at the local level who happen to take an interest and who happen to know the right individuals at the right time. Theoretical arguments can be made that the new system will be more efficient and more equitable and counterarguments can be offered that the system will result in outcomes that are highly varied across localities and racial groups.public policy, skill development, careers, blacks, Bartik, Hollenbeck

Study of ballistic mode comet Encke mission opportunities

An analysis was conducted of the space mission to intercept the comet Encke. The two basic types of flight geometry considered for the mission are described. The primary interactions between time-of-flight and performance characteristics are displayed. The representative spacecraft characteristics for the Titan 3/Centaur launch vehicle are tabulated. The navigation analyses for the two missions are developed to show: (1) assessment of the navigation feasibility of the missions, (2) determination of the total velocity budget for the trim maneuvers, and (3) evaluation of dispersions at comet encounter

CURRENT TRENDS IN RESEARCH REGARDING A CONTROL FOR THE HUMAN IMMUNODEFICIENCY VIRUS

The focus of this paper is explaining what current research is ongoing in AIDS and HIV treatment. The biomedical treatment of HIV and AIDS is based on three separate but integrated steps: use of antiviral drugs that will interfere with continuation of the HIV cycle; restoration of the immune system, and treatment of opportunistic infections and cancers. With improved treatment, growing experience among health professionals in caring for HIV-infected patients, improved access to health care, and the decrease in number of new HIV infections in the United States, Canada and Western Europe due to health education is part of the success in the fight against HIV

An Analysis of the Employment Effects of the Washington High Technology Business and Occupation (B&O) Tax Credit: Technical Report

This paper estimates the effects of an R&D tax credit in the state of Washington on job creation. The research uses micro-data on the job creation and tax credits received by individual firms in the state of Washington from 2004 to 2009. We correct for the endogeneity of R&D tax credits received by individual firms by using instrumental variables based in part on national industry factor shares for R&D. We estimate that this tax credit created jobs, but at a high cost. The cost per job-year created is estimated to be between $40,000 and$50,000. The credit was so high cost in part because the credit was non-refundable. As a result, about one-quarter of the firms receiving credits were maxed out on credit eligibility, so that the credit provided no marginal incentive for additional R&D spending or job creation

The Distribution of College Graduate Debt, 1990 to 2008: A Decomposition Approach

Despite tremendous recent interest in the subject of student debt by both researchers and policy makers, little is known about how the distribution of college graduate debt has been evolving and what factors can explain it. We use National Postsecondary Student Aid Study data from 1990 through 2008 to document the evolution of college graduate debt profiles. We find that growth in debt over the 1990s was rapid and occurred throughout the distribution; during the 2000s, in contrast, debt grew appreciably only for the top quartile. Employing several decomposition techniques, we exploit the richness of the data to explain these shifts. Over the entire horizon, observable characteristics of students and institutions explain about one-third of the debt increase, though this share tends to be higher around the extensive margin and the median and lower in the right tail. While observables—largely costs—explain a majority of the increase between 1990 and 1996 and again from 2000 to 2008, they explain nothing over the late 1990s. We offer suggestive evidence that this “unobservable” share was supply-side driven, owing to the advent of both federal unsubsidized Stafford loans and private loans