Urban across the Country

Urban’s researchers partner with state and local leaders to provide the evidence, tools, and support they need to improve lives and strengthen communities. This work includes strategic advising to translate research into action, program evaluations to measure effectiveness, and research and data analysis to inform decisionmaking. Our experts develop custom data tools and modeling to support equitable resource allocation and lead community-engaged research and convenings to ensure policies reflect local priorities.

Use this page to explore Urban’s work. Search by region to see examples of our research, and filter by evidence and products to narrow results by topic or type of work.

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Brief Welfare Reform and Opportunity in the Low-Wage Labor Market
With the enactment of welfare reforms in 1996, a large percentage of former welfare recipients entered the American job market. This brief answers the many questions brought up by this shift: Are there jobs available? If so, can former welfare recipients successfully compete for those jobs? Once
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As of the early 1990s, 16 percent of workers reported having received formal company training since they started their job, and 15 percent had received informal training. This report presents information on the type and amount of training provided by employers, its effects, and the distribution of
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To investigate the likelihood that women who turn to the welfare system for support will make the transition from bad to good jobs, we use data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) to examine the employment patterns of young women. We construct quarterly employment histories for all
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To provide insights into what states may need to do to help low-skilled women make the transition from welfare to work, the author examined the characteristics and employment patterns of low-skilled women who achieved steady employment by their late twenties. Data for this analysis are from the
Research Report Cheating the Earned Income Tax Credit
Senior Fellow Eugene Steuerle suggests that problems facing the Earned Income Tax Credit should not attempted to be solved in isolation.
Research Report Employment and Training Policy Implications of the Aging Baby Boom Generation
The post-World War II baby boom generation has had a profound effect on public policy and society at large. At each stage of the life cycle, this generation has changed the demand for public services. The social and policy phenomena associated with the baby boom result from a complex interaction of
Research Report Health Insurance Coverage Transitions of Older Americans
Health insurance coverage can be a significant factor in determining older individuals' economic and health security. This report uses data from the first two waves of the Health and Retirement Survey to examine the health insurance transitions of two groups: those who moved into retirement between