NB17-16 Do Youth Employment Programs Work? Evidence from the Civilian Conservation Corps

We propose to evaluate the short and long-term effects of means-tested youth employment programs by studying the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), the first and largest youth training program in US history. Many job training programs in existence today, such as Job Corps and the Youth Conservation Corps, are modeled after the CCC,70 yet little is known about the effects of such programs beyond three years. There is no evidence on whether job training for youth improves labor market outcomes (employment and earnings) over their lifetime, lowers use of social insurance programs (such as disability insurance), affects retirement behavior or increases retirement security. Thus, the full social value of these programs over the long-run is not known. In addition to assessing the long term effects of job training programs, our project will help improve the design of these programs by assessing the optimal duration of the program; whether educational components increase the return to job training; and whether program effects are heterogeneous, with greater effects for certain sub-populations.