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http://canada.com/ottawa/ottawacitizen/specials/business/story.html?id={19F0C981-79A7-45C5-82C8-0EA5DA6A4584}

$3B federal job-training program 'likely a waste' 
Schemes aren't properly evaluated for effectiveness, study says
Eric Beauchesne
The Ottawa Citizen
Wednesday, June 05, 2002

The federal government will spend nearly $3 billion 
this year on job-training programs without knowing
whether they are effective, a study by a major economic 
think-tank says.

It calls for rigorous evaluation of government 
job-training programs, which have been a source of
scandal and are likely a waste of money, according 
to the study released yesterday by the C.D. Howe
Institute.

"The poor record of government job-training programs 
is largely due to ineffective assessment and a
consequent failure to learn from past experience," 
the study, Measuring the Performance of
Government Training Programs, says. "Canada's national 
government training programs have never
been subjected to rigorous evaluation."

Authors William Warburton of the University of 
Alberta and Rebecca Warburton of the University of
Victoria argue that without changes that improve 
the ability to determine the effect of programs on
participants, governments will continue to waste 
money that could have helped people seeking work.

The report says the U.S., where Congress frequently 
imposes strict evaluation conditions on federally
funded job-creation programs, is the only country 
where such rigorous evaluation is common. But the
findings are not reassuring, it said. While there 
are some very successful programs, most aren't.

"And far from increasing well-being, training 
programs that do not work can exact a toll on
participants, leaving them bitter and cynical 
after wasting their time," it said. 

The report concludes that overall, training is 
"probably" a waste of money in Canada, although it
admits that since the effectiveness of job programs 
is not rigorously evaluated, it can't say for sure.
The authors suggest the government emulate the U.S. 
by, for example, requiring provinces to assess
the performance of federally funded programs.

"Canadian job-training programs need to move 
beyond anecdote and boosterism if taxpayers are to
get value for money and program participants are 
to get the skills they need."

If they do, and that leads to more effective 
training programs, the payoff could be reduced poverty,
reduced taxes, and improvement in the health and 
well-being of those who complete such programs, it
said.

��Copyright�2002�The Ottawa Citizen



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