Skip to main content
 
  • Click to open or close the program search boxShow Me Programs
    • Show me the programs that are
      performing Go
    • Show me the programs that are
      not performing Go
ExpectMore.govExpectMore.gov home pageEXPECT FEDERAL PROGRAMS TO PERFORM WELL, AND BETTER EVERY YEAR.
 
Program Assessment

Program

View Assessment Details

Job Corps

This program provides intensive education and training services to disadvantaged youth ages 16-24. These services are intended to help eligible youth obtain jobs, seek further education, or enter the military. The program serves approximately 60,000 youth nationwide through 122 centers, most of which are residential.

Rating

What This Rating Means

PERFORMING
Adequate

This rating describes a program that needs to set more ambitious goals, achieve better results, improve accountability or strengthen its management practices.
  • The program's performance results are mixed. The final report from a major longitudinal study found that program participation had positive impacts on educational attainment and literacy, and reduced involvement in crime and welfare receipt. However, in the most recent year, Job Corps met just one of its four annual goals, although the program did surpass its literacy/numeracy target.
  • Overall, the program's costs exceed its benefits. The longitudinal study found that the program as a whole was not cost-effective, and had little or no impact on earnings and employment. The cost per participant is expensive (about $24,000) because of the residential nature of the program.
  • The program must make significant improvements in financial management and planning and real property acquisition and maintenance. While the program has established a formal capital asset plan, better integration of this plan is needed in the program's financial analysis and decision-making process, particularly with respect to resource allocation.

Improvement Plan

About Improvement Plans

We are taking the following actions to improve the performance of the program:

  • Adopting efficiency measures that are linked to performance outcomes, account for all costs, and facilitate comparisons across Department of Labor training and employment programs.
  • Exploring opportunities to improve cost effectiveness and performance outcomes at the 28 non-DOL owned properties which are operated for Job Corps by the Departments of Agriculture and Interior.
  • Improving the tracking and reporting of Job Corps facility conditions and using the data to inform resource allocation decisions regarding improvements and maintenance.

Learn More
The content on ExpectMore.gov is developed by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget and Federal agencies.