Job Corps Should Strengthen Eligibility Requirements and Fully Disclose Performance

To determine whether the Job Corps effectively enhances the employability of its target population, GAO reviewed data and visited some 12 Job Corps centers, selected recruitment and placement agencies, and other training programs serving the disadvantaged. The Job Corps program has serious problems including the following: (1) little assurance exists that the Job Corps is serving only youths who need to be removed from their environment as the Congress intended; (2) inadequate criteria for determining a placement rate and questionable placement data allow the Corps to depict the program in a very favorable light, but the rate does not provide adequate information to properly assess effectiveness; and (3) based on initial steps taken to determine the Corps' long-term impact on earnings, graduates, while earning more than nongraduates, do not earn enough to break the poverty cycle.

Includes legal decisions and opinions of the Comptroller General.