Efficient Provision of Employment Service Outputs: A Production Frontier Analysis

Considerable policy interest has developed in assessing the performance of employment and training programs, most notably the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act. (CETA) and the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA). This paper develops a production frontier model for the Employment Service and assesses the relative efficiency of the 51 State Employment Security Agencies (SESAs) in attaining program outcomes close to that frontier. The models specified account for factors in the local program environment that are outside of management control, as well as for management choices among program outputs, and are estimated using state-level data for the fiscal years 1977-1982.