A job club for older job seekers: an experimental evaluation

Labor market trends and expert opinion have recently highlighted the existence of an "older worker problem" that will require policy and programmatic remedies. This study details the findings of a longitudinal field experiment on the effectiveness of a promising behavioral/self-help job-finding program --the job club. Employment service clients (N = 46) were randomly assigned to receive the job club program or normally available (control) services. Twelve week follow-up data revealed a 74% employment rate for job club participants versus 22% for controls. Both groups obtained comparable placements. Study findings indicate the job club is an effective employment service for older job seekers.