Job Search Assistance : A Review / Robert G. Wegmann.

The purpose of this paper is to review the implications of a series of programs now being conducted throughout the United States which are consciously trying to equip the unemployed with the tools necessary to find work. These relatively new programs are described as demonstrating a high rate of success in helping individuals obtain work within a period of weeks. These programs are also described as relatively inexpensive and effective for a very wide variety of individuals (regardless of age, sex, educational level, race, etc.). Finally, these programs are described as attacking the problem of frictional unemployment, which is defined as the time spent seeking but not finding an existing but unfilled job. Five programs are included in this review: (1) the Job-Finding Club, which started in Carbondale, Illinois; (2) the Department of Labor's Work Incentive (WIN) program, which funded a series of five pilot projects with each site involving a Job Club; (3) the Job Factory, operated by the Cambridge (Massachusetts) Office of Manpower Affairs and funded by CETA (Comprehensive Employment and Training Act); (4) the Self-Directed Placement Corporation, a for-profit corporation on the West Coast; and (5) a series of work orientation programs operated by the state of Washington. Following a brief overview of each program, a discussion of their success is presented in the context of recent research findings on the American job market. Finally, the potential growth of these programs, suggestions for needed research, and implications for public policy are proposed. (BM)

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