Solving the reemployment puzzle

"This book provides a detailed insider's view under the Clinton and Bush administrations of the process by which eight social science experiments influenced federal laws and policies to alleviate joblessness in the United States. These experiments, each of which focused on returning unemployed workers to work, are analyzed through their entire policy process: experiment initiation, implementation, and evaluation; policy development; legislative enactment; program development; and program implementation. Stephen Wandner also reveals that such rigorous scientific research can, but sometimes doesn't, influence federal workforce policy and legislation. For research to affect public policy, political leaders must commit to funding, conducting, and using research. Implementing research findings requires that government officials at the national, state, and local levels be supportive of the research results and use them to develop new and innovative programs and processes. When policymakers use research results as a prominent ingredient in policymaking, they are more likely to develop cost-effective policy that works. However, when the impartial research is not conducted or the research results are ignored or misused, policy, programs, and ultimately workers suffer."--Publisher's website.