The impact of the Employment Retention and Advancement Study on workers' outcomes

The Employment Retention and Advancement (ERA) intervention was explicitly intended and designed to make a difference once participants were in work; evidence on its impact on the retention and advancement of its intended beneficiaries - i.e. workers - is thus of critical interest. This report analyses the impact that ERA has had on a variety of outcomes experienced by working members of the New Deal for Lone Parents and Working Tax Credit target groups, as well as on the tax year earnings of working members of the New Deal 25 plus target group. Impacts on workers' outcomes have been assessed both while the programme was in operation and afterwards. Findings relating to the later point in time are of special policy interest, as they are the ones relevant for judging whether ERA's impacts on workers have been maintained or else have quickly faded once the in-work assistance and financial incentives were withdrawn.