Providing Earnings Supplements to Encourage and Sustain Employment: Lessons from Research and Practice

"Earning supplements" are a monetary payment to working individuals, usually on a monthly basis, to supplement their earnings and raise their income. Typically targeted to low-income parents who are unemployed and provided when they start working, earnings supplements are designed to encourage employment and increase the payoff of low-wage work. They can also provide an important incentive for individuals to stay employed.  This brief ofers lessons for policy and practice from MDRC-conducted random assignment studies of five programs that provided earnings supplements to low-income parents.