REPORT ON FORMER WORK FIRST PARTICIPANTS

required by Act No. 120, Public Acts of 1999, Section 312
(Michigan Department of Career Development [MDCD])
and
Act No. 135, Public Acts of 1999, Sections 409 and 626
(Family Independence Agency [FIA])

I. Background

The joint letter, dated November 18, 1999, submitted to the respective Appropriation Subcommittee Chairs of the MDCD and the FIA, outlined the collective efforts that would be taken by the MDCD and the FIA to fulfill the requirements of the boilerplate language in Act No. 120, Public Acts of 1999, Section 312 and Act No. 135, Public Acts of 1999, Sections 409 and 626.

The population targeted for this report is defined as former Works First participants, whose Family Independence Program (FIP) case closed due to earnings during October 1, 1998 through December 31, 1998.

The MDCD contracted with an outside agency to survey and obtain the one year data required by the boilerplates. The MDCD's plan is to survey this same cohort in Fiscal Year (FY) 2001 and FY 2002, to provide two year data and the MDCD boilerplate required three year data.

Additionally, in both FY 2001 and FY2002, the departments plan to start new cohorts of former Work First participants whose FIP case closed due to earnings during the entire previous year. This will provide continuing longitudinal data on former Work First participants.

The MDCD and the FIA boilerplates make reference to Enhanced Technical Vocational Programs (ETVT). The activities and services available under ETVT are now part of the expanded training and educational components of the Work First program, therefore, the data provided in this report is inclusive of ETVT activities.

II. Ninety-Day Interval

The ninety-day information on the former Work First participants contains only the number of the former Work First participants that were still employed at the ninety-day benchmark.

• Approximately 77.4% (1,238), of the 1,599 former Work First participants, were employed at the 90-day interval.

III. One Year Interval

A. Survey Methodology
The cohort contained a total of 1,599 names of former Work First participants whose FIP cases closed due to earnings during October 1, 1998 through December 31, 1998.

Of the 1,599 former participants, 485 were able to be contacted by phone, while the remaining 1,114 were mailed a questionnaire with a postage paid return envelope. A total of 619 former Work First participants responded to the survey, with a total of 393 actually completing the survey (i.e., 226 of the respondents formally declined to participate in the survey). The remaining 947 former Work First participants could not be located or did not respond to any attempts made to contact them.

The survey data contained in this report is a result of the answers given by the 393 former Work First participants that completed the survey (note: a completer may have declined to answer a particular question). A copy of the survey instrument is attached to this report.

B. Survey Data

1. Percentage Employed - MDCD 312(3)(a) and FIA 409(1)(a):

• 79.9% indicated that they are currently employed.
• 17.8% indicated that they had been employed during the past year.
• 2.3% had not been employed during the last year.

2. Average Wage Earned, Range of Wages Earned, Variability of Wages Earned - MDCD 312(3)(b):
• 51.4% earned in excess of $8.00 per hour.
• The average wage earned would be in excess of $8.00 per hour.
• Range and variability of wages earned:

3. Percentage of participants receiving health care benefits through their employers - MDCD 312 (3)(c),
FIA 409(1)(e), and FIA 626(2)(c):
• 55.8% stated health care was available through their employers.
• 42.0% of the respondents that had health insurance benefits
stated that it was through their employer.

4. Percentage receiving tuition reimbursement or training from their employers - MDCD 312 (3)(c),
FIA 409(1)(e), and FIA 626(2)(c):
• 39.1% stated their employers offer training programs.
• 26.1% stated that they participated in the employers training programs.
• 24.1% stated their employers offer tuition reimbursement programs.
• 8.7% stated they are utilizing the employer's tuition reimbursement programs.

5. The percentage continuing to receive some form of public assistance - MDCD 312(3)(d), FIA 409(1)(f) and FIA 626(2)(d):
• Information is presented for both the respondents to the survey, as well as, for the entire survey population.

6. The kind of jobs obtained - FIA 409(1)(b) and FIA 626(2)(a):
• Nine general job categories were used based on the Dictionary of Occupational Titles.

7. Job Retention - FIA 409(1)(c) and FIA 626(2)(b):
• The table represents the length of time the respondents have been on their current job.

8. Any other information specifically impacting on children or other information determined relevant - FIA 409(1)(g) and 626(2)(e)(g):
• Respondents were asked, with respect to the following categories, if they felt that their family was better off, the same, or worse off, now as compared to when they were receiving public assistance.

C. Non-Custodial Parents (NCPs) Data

The number of Non-Custodial Parents (NCPs) who make child support payments as required by FIA 626 (2)(f):

• The following information was received from the 63 counties which participated in Child Support Enforcement System (CSES). Of these, 40 counties had child support payments for the Work First NCPs. The remaining 23 reported no child support payments since they have not begun participating in the child support system. Among the counties not participating in CSES are the large urban counties of Wayne, Ingham, St. Clair, Genesee, Macomb, and Oakland.

• There were 2,244 NCPs in Work First during FY 1999.
• 85.9% (1,927) made no child support payments during FY 1999.
• 14.1% (317) made payments made child support payments during FY 1999.
• The average child support payment during was $979.21, with payments ranging from $5.10 to $10,002.45.
• The child support payments totaled $310,409.70 for FY 1999.

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