Over the past several decades the labor market has become more competitive as employer expectations for a variety of skills have risen. These hurdles make it hard for many young people, particularly those from marginalized backgrounds, to enter and move up in the labor market. Currently, only one-third of U.S. teens are in the labor market compared to nearly half in the early 2000s, suggesting that there may be fewer pathways for teens to enter the labor market (Dennett & Modestino, 2013).
My work in this area has brought attention to the importance of improving youth labor market attachment, demonstrating the effectiveness of various interventions—particularly summer youth employment programs (SYEPs). Using an embedded randomized controlled trial to assess the impact of early work experience provided by the Boston SYEP, I find that the program significantly increases job readiness skills, boosts postsecondary aspirations, and enhances social skills and community engagement among participants during the summer months (Modestino and Paulsen 2018). Linking these short term experiences to longer-term outcomes, my research has shown that the program:
- Reduces violent and property crime arraignments by over 30 percent during the 18 months after the program ends due to improvements in soft skills (Modestino 2019).
- Increases high school graduation by 5 percentage points due to improvements in work habits that lead to an increase in attendance and grades during the year after participation (Modestino and Paulsen, 2023).
- Boosts the likelihood of taking the SAT and enrolling in college, shift from two-year to four-year institutions due to an improvement in academic aspirations (Modestino et al., 2022).
- More than doubles the likelihood of having a job during the program summer which leads to a 9 percentage point increase in employment and a 30 percent increase in wages during the year after participating for more marginalized groups of youth due to an increase in job readiness (J-PAL 2022).
Since 2020, my research has been used to improve the efficiency and equity of the Boston SYEP including four new tracks of programming during COVID, an unprecedented $18.7M investment in program improvements to build back better after the pandemic, and a first-in-the-nation Mayor’s Youth Jobs Guarantee so that every Boston public school student who wants a summer job can have one. In recognition of this decades-long research-practice partnership with the City of Boston, I was named the 2024 Evidence Champion by Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), MIT for ”making extraordinary contributions to the field of evidence based policy making.”
PEER REVIEWED JOURNALS
Published, In-Press, or Accepted
Modestino, A., Marks, M., Hoover, H., and Pandit, H. 2025 Where the Rubber Meets the Road: Examining Efficiency and Equity in the Design of Summer Jobs Programs. IZA Institute of Labor Economics, Discussion Paper No. 17737, pp. 1-59.
[Pre-print Version]
Media Coverage: PBS News Hour [2024], USA Today [2024], NPR PlanetMoney [2024], Christian Science Monitor [2024], The Atlantic [2024], Boston Business Journal [2024], New York Times [2023], The Financial Times [2023], Vital City [2023], The New School [2023]
Modestino, A., & Paulsen, R. 2023. School’s Out: How Summer Youth Employment Programs Impact Academic Outcomes. Education Finance and Policy.
[Publication] [Pre-print Version] [Online Appendix]
Media Coverage: The Education Exchange [2023], The New York Times [2022], The Wall Street Journal [2022], The Boston Globe [2022], Bloomberg [2020], Boston Globe [2020], NPR [2020], WBUR [2020]
Modestino, A., Paul, U. † and McLaughlin J. 2022. What's In a Job? Evaluating the Effect of Private Sector Job Experience on Students' Academic Outcomes. AEA Papers and Proceedings.
[Publication] [Pre-print Version] [Online Appendix]
Media Coverage: New York Times [2021], CNBC [2021], NBC News [2021], Financial Times [2021], Time Magazine [2021]
Modestino, A. 2019. How Do Summer Youth Employment Programs Improve Criminal Justice Outcomes, and for Whom? Journal of Public Policy Analysis and Management, 38(3): 600-628
[Publication] [Pre-print Version] [Online Appendix]
Media Coverage: Wall Street Journal [2018], Politico [2017], Christian Science Monitor [2017], WBUR Radio Boston [2017], FOX25 News [2017], WBUR Morning Edition [2017]
Modestino, A., Sederberg, R.†, & Tuller, L.† 2019. Assessing the Effectiveness of Financial Coaching: Evidence from the Boston Youth Credit Building Initiative. Journal of Consumer Affairs, 53(4): 1825-1873. [Publication] [Pre-print Version] [Online Appendix]
Media Coverage: WCVB [2019]
Modestino, A. and *Paulsen, R. 2019. Reducing Inequality Summer by Summer: Lessons from the Boston Summer Youth Employment Program Survey. Evaluation Program and Planning, vol. 72, pp. 40-53.
[Publication]
Media Coverage: Boston Globe [2016], WNPR Connecticut Public Radio [2015], NPR Marketplace [2015], Bloomberg [2015], CNBC [2015], Wall Street Journal [2015]
INVITED ARTICLES
Modestino, A. and Paulsen, R. 2023. Year-Round Benefits from Summer Jobs. Education Next, 23(4). [Publication]
Modestino, A. and McLaughlin, J. 2022. How private sector summer employment programs are expanding benefits for young people. Brookings Institution, July 18. [Publication]
Ross, M., Modestino, A., Saroui, S., and Cope, R. 2021. To “build back better,” we must connect young people to jobs and education. The Avenue, Brookings Institution, May 20. [Publication]
Modestino, A. 2020. Saving Summer Jobs: How Summer Youth Employment Programs Improve Youth Outcomes during COVID-19. MassBenchmarks Journal, 22(1). [Publication]
Modestino, A. 2018. Why More Cities Should Offer Summer Jobs for Teens. Harvard Business Review, August 28, pp. 1-7. [Publication]
Modestino, A. 2018. How Can Summer Jobs Reduce Crime Among Youth? Report, Brookings Institution, January. [Publication]
Modestino, A. 2017. How Do Summer Youth Employment Programs Improve Criminal Justice Outcomes, and for Whom? Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, Community Development Discussion Paper No. 17-01. [Publication]
PUBLIC POLICY REPORTS
Modestino, A. and Cope, R., Boston’s Summer Youth Employment Program: Designing for Efficiency and Equity. Northeastern University, Community to Community Impact Accelerator (C2C), Policy Brief No. 2023-01. [Publication]
Modestino, A. Cope, R., and Blakely, P. Building a More Holistic Workforce Development System for Boston’s Youth. Northeastern University, Community to Community Impact Accelerator (C2C), Research Report No. 2023-01. [Publication]
Li, Yiping Li, Jackson-Spieker, K., Modestino, A., Judd Kessler, and Sara Heller. 2022. The Promises of Summer Youth Employment Programs: Lessons from Randomized Evaluations. Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), Evidence Brief, May 23. [Publication]
Modestino, A. and Ben Forman. Pathways to Economic Mobility: Identifying the Labor Market Value of Community College in Massachusetts. The Boston Foundation, Understanding Boston report series, June 10, 2021. [Publication]
Media Coverage: WBUR [2021]
Modestino, A., Sederberg, R., Tuller, L. 2019. An Evaluation of the Boston Youth Credit Building Initiative: Final Report. Office of Financial Empowerment, City of Boston. [Publication]
Modestino, A. Morikawa, M., and Nguyen,T. 2017. Reducing Inequality Summer by Summer. Office of Workforce Development, City of Boston, December. [Publication]
Modestino, A., Sederberg, R., Tuller, L. 2017. An Evaluation of the Boston Youth Credit Building Initiative: Baseline Report. Office of Financial Empowerment, City of Boston, May. [Publication]
Modestino, A. and Nguyen, T. 2016. The Potential for Summer Youth Employment Programs to Reduce Inequality: What Do We Know? Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, Regional and Community Outreach Issue Brief 16-03. [Publication]
