Implementing Personal Reemployment Accounts (PRAs): Early Experiences of the Seven Demonstration States. Interim Evaluation Report Final

摘要

Personal reemployment accounts (PRAs) are a new strategy intended to help specific recipients of Unemployment Insurance (UI) build job skills and find work. PRAs are lump sum accounts of up to $3,000 that are fully managed by the unemployed worker and valid for one year. They are targeted to UI recipients who are likely to exhaust their benefits, and recipients can choose how and when to spend funds from their account to purchase reemployment services. PRA recipients may also elect to receive the funds as a bonus for reentering the workforce and keeping a job. In 2004, the U.S. Department of Labors Employment and Training Administration (ETA) launched the PRA demonstration project as the first step in examining this new strategy. ETA selected seven statesFlorida, Idaho, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Texas, and West Virginiato serve as PRA demonstration states. These states received a combined total of nearly $8 million to offer PRAs to a minimum of 2,270 unemployed workers. The evaluation of this project will cover the first two years of implementation and will involve both a qualitative and a quantitative study. This interim report presents information about the first year of PRA implementation, based on telephone interviews and site visits to each state and an analysis of state quarterly data reports.