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learn$ave Project: Final Reportis sensitive to activity level, then it is presented by theirappropriate unit of activity.Cost-economy of program activitiesThe estimates suggest that recruitment, withdrawalprocessing, and case management were the highest costactivities (Table 8.1). The initial recruitment difficultiesas documented in Kingwell et al. (2005) and in Chapter4 of this report are reflected in the high cost of promotingthe project and responding to inquiries ($135 perparticipant) at the site offices. Promotion costs to payfor staff time and promotional materials may have beensomewhat lower if learn$ave had been a well-establishedgovernment program with a strong track record but wehave no way of determining these kinds of cost-savings. 5Even in an ongoing program, however, some costs wouldstill be incurred for outreach to low-income people whocould make use of such an IDA program. Case managementservices were also a high-cost item, not surprisinglybeing higher for learn$ave-plus participants (about $160)who received an enhanced version of these services, thanlearn$ave-only participants (about $115). Note as wellthat, because the enhanced case management serviceswere delivered on a one-on-one basis, they were muchhigher than the other service delivered to learn$ave-plusparticipants, financial management training (about $65),which was delivered in group settings.However, the most costly project activity was theprocessing of the matched savings credits withdrawals(almost $300 per program group member). Chapter 4has already discussed the sometimes cumbersome andlabour-intensive process used in learn$ave in the absenceof a more automated or electronic alternative. Both of thehighest-cost activities, outside general operating costs,involved labour-intensive verification of documents tocomply with project rules and to prevent fraud. Suchverification was needed in recruitment, project enrolmentand in processing matched withdrawals. This wouldsuggest that streamlining the application and matchedwithdrawals processing or linking these processes toexisting administrative systems (e.g., tax records, EIrecords) would improve the cost-economy of theselearn$ave activities.Note that an effort was made to cost the servicesprovided by staff at the financial institutions holdingthe learn$ave accounts (see line “Bank administration”in Table 8.1). Participants in learn$ave were required toopen a special account into which they deposited their5 However, the extra labour costs associated with recruiting the control group (which would notbe needed in an ongoing program) were taken into consideration and discounted.savings for purposes of earning matched credits. 6 Otherthan slightly different account-opening procedures anddirect monthly sharing of financial records with SEDI,learn$ave accounts functioned in much the same way asany deposit account from the perspective of the financialservice providers. For the purposes of this study it wasassumed that there was no extra cost incurred by thefinancial institutions for daily operations besides the costfor learn$ave account-opening and setting up of recordsharingwith SEDI. 7 Because no data were collected on thedirect costs to the institution of providing these servicesunder learn$ave, the costs had to be imputed by assumingthat the institutions devoted, on average, one personhourof customer service labour to each participant.The market replacement value of such work was about$12.98, 8 the figure used in the total program delivery costcalculation.Overall, the total program activity costs were verysimilar between the learn$ave-only and learn$ave-plusprogram groups with a difference of just about $125 perparticipant between them. The learn$ave-plus group wasdesigned to be a much more labour-and service-intensiveprogram model so the small difference in both programimpacts (described in previous chapters) and programcosts is somewhat surprising. This theme is discussed ingreater detail later in this chapter.The general operating costs for the service providersat the experimental sites were substantially higher thanfor SEDI on a per participant group basis. This is also trueof individual program delivery items, of which the sitesbore the lion’s share of the cost (see Table 8.1 above). Onereason is that SEDI did not deal with participants directlyso its cost per program group member was rather fixed.The sites, however, dealt with participants on demandand since the program went on for some time, their costwas higher. Also, it is important to recall differences in theroles played by SEDI as the national coordinator and by6 In learn$ave, the financial institutions imposed a $1 administration fee on all withdrawalsfrom the learn$ave account. This cost was not included in these cost calculations as it wasthought that such costs would have to be incurred by participants if they had another accountbeside the learn$ave account. At any rate, the cost to each participant was low and wouldnot have figured prominently in the cost calculations.7 For more on this, see Chapter 4 for results of the service delivery case study.8 The Labour Market Information website of HRSDC shows that average hourly wages in 2007were $14.50, $14.85, and $16.03 for a bank customer service representative in Halifax,Toronto, and Vancouver, respectively:▪▪www.labourmarketinformation.ca/standard.aspx?ppid=81&lcode=E&prov=12&gaid=25164&occ=1433▪▪www.labourmarketinformation.ca/standard.aspx?ppid=81&lcode=E&prov=35&gaid=9219&occ=1433; and▪▪www.labourmarketinformation.ca/standard.aspx?ppid=81&lcode=E&prov=59&gaid=25565&occ=1433. After adjusting for inflation, the average of these three figures is $12.98 (in2002 dollars).94 | Chapter 8 Social Research and Demonstration Corporation