Subsidizing Employment Opportunities for Low-Income Families – A Review of State Employment Programs Created Through the TANF Emergency Fund. Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (OPRE) Report 2011-38. December 2011. Administration for Children and Families, Health and Human Services. Key Findings:

• “While states and localities often had less than one year to create or expand their subsidized employment programs, many were able to mount relatively large-scale efforts. In all, 15 states placed over 5,000 people in jobs. Four of those states — California, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and Texas — each placed more than 25,000 people, accounting for over half of the national total. Nationwide, about half the placements were summer jobs for youth.
• Responding to the flexibility allowed under the Emergency Fund, states and localities implemented a wide range of programs. Programs differed in the participants targeted (most were not limited to TANF recipients), the type of employers recruited, the structure of the subsidy, and the size of the program.
• In many programs, participants worked for private employers, who were reimbursed for all or part of participants’ wages. This model contrasted with that of most earlier subsidized employment initiatives, which placed participants in nonprofit or public agencies.
• After funding ended, many of the programs also ended, and others sharply reduced the number of people served. Only a few states continued to operate at the same levels as previously, and these were states that, for the most part, were operating subsidized employment programs using TANF funds before ARRA was enacted.”