A Helping Hand Goes a Long Way: Long-Term Effects of Counseling and Support to Welfare-to-Work Program Recipients

Author: Gustavo J. Bobonis (Department of Economics, University of Toronto)Aneta Bonikowska (Social Analysis and Modelling Division, Statistics Canada)Philip Oreopoulos (Department of Economics, University of Toronto)W Craig Riddell (Vancouver School of Economics, University of British Columbia)Steven P. Ryan (Department of Economics, University of Toronto)
Posted: 6 August 2026

Abstract

We study the medium- and long-run impacts of the Canada Self-Sufficiency Project (SSP) Plus program, which randomly offered intensive employment support services for up to three years to long-term welfare recipients eligible for temporary earnings subsidies. We examine whether this intervention—designed to address both economic and psychosocial barriers to finding and retaining desirable employment—produced long-run changes in individuals’ socioeconomic trajectories. We link study participants to high-frequency survey data and to their federal tax and employer-employee matched records for up to 20 years following random assignment. The intensive services treatment resulted in a 20–27 percent increase in participants’ annual earnings over the 20-year period and sustained increases in full-time employment during the first decade post-intervention. As potential mechanisms, treated individuals engaged in more job search and job-to-job transitions and secured employment in higher-wage jobs and at higher-paying firms.
JEL codes: I30, I38
Keywords: Welfare-to-Work Programs, Self-Sufficiency Project, SSP Plus, Temporary Income Subsidies, Counselling and Support, Long Term Impacts