Providing Earning Supplements to Encourage and Sustain Employment: Lessons from Research and Practice

This brief was prepared by MDRC for the Administration for Children and Families’ Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation. Authors present findings and lessons for policy and practice from a random assignment evaluation on five programs that provided earnings supplements. Focusing on the effects of such programs for single parents, findings show that these types of programs increase employment, income, and employment retention for participating families, but have limited effects on employment advancement.