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·	From Theory To Practice

Canada has experimented with a variety of direct job creation programs over the past twenty-five years. Although many of the programs introduced by the federal government have been evaluated from time to time, it is difficult to make comparisons across programs. For example, the available evaluation results are scattered over numerous reports. Also, the evaluation studies have not followed a consistent methodology, and the available program data do not always match across programs.

This evaluation study provides a review of the direct job creation programs introduced by the federal government. The review brings diverse evaluation findings into a common focus. It also draws evaluation lessons about what works and what does not work.

To help make program comparisons, the review develops a measure of the incremental cost of job creation for each program. The measure incorporates available information on the incremental employment impacts of each program and the average duration of the jobs.

The review finds that the cost effectiveness of direct job creation programs improved considerably over time as program design was continuously modified, ineffective elements were dropped, and better elements were added. Also, the lessons drawn from the available evaluations highlight important design issues and the potential contributions and limitations of these types of programs.