Stromsdorfer, Ernst W. 1968. "Determinants of Economic Success in Retraining the Unemployed: The West Virginia Experience." Journal of Human Resources 3(2):139-158.

The economic costs and benefits of government-sponsored retraining of the long-term unemployed in West Virginia from 1959 through 1964 are examined and analyzed in this study of the post-training labor market experience of 879 Trainees, Nontrainees, and other groups. A multivariate analysis was used. When the effects of age, sex, education, and other socioeconomic and labor market variables were held constant, the net effect of retraining on employment and before-tax earnings for the study sample was shown to be positive and statistically significant. Average monetary benefits exceeded average monetary costs during the 18-month post-training period.

The author is Associate Professor of Economics, Department of Economics and Institute for Research on Human Resources, The Pennsylvania State University. This paper represents a continuation of the evaluation of government-sponsored retraining begun by the Retraining Research Project directed by Gerald G. Somers of the Department of Economics, University of Wisconsin. The author wishes to express appreciation for the financial support he has received from the Retraining Research Project, the Numerical Analysis Laboratory of the University of Wisconsin, and the Computation Center of the Pennsylvania State University. He is also grateful to Professor Somers and especially to Glen G. Cain whose generous assistance and useful criticisms have improved this study considerably. Thanks are also due to his colleagues, Maw Lin Lee and Teh-wei Hu. Of course, any errors and omissions are clearly the author's own responsibility.

© 2003 by the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System

US ISSN 0022-166X

Return to JHR Home Page