learn$ave Project: Final Reportimpacts relating to small business start-ups, findingspresented below summarize the observed impacts ona number of outcomes shown earlier for the educationstream as micro-enterprise stream participants had thechoice of using their matched credits for education <strong>and</strong>training as well as business start-up.Over the 54-month period, learn$ave had the expectedimpact of increasing the incidence of self-employmentfor participants in the micro-enterprise stream (Table7.6). The matched saving credits significantly increased(by 24.5 percentage points) the chances that a programgroup member be self-employed during the 54 months, aconsiderable gain over the control group’s 42.1 per centrate of self-employment. Interestingly, learn$ave servicescontributed negatively to this impact. When added to thecredits, the services decreased the chances of having anyself-employment jobs by 9.9 percentage points, reducingthe combined impact to 14.6 percentage points. Theservices also contributed negatively to the chances ofincorporation. Micro enterprise savers were required tocomplete a business plan that had been approved by anexternal, qualified local business development organization.The negative result for services is not surprising ,therefore, as this additional review would have encouragedparticipants to think twice about starting smallbusiness. Control group members did not have thisopportunity.Other findings in Table 7.6 show that the learn$avematched credits had a significant impact on total self-employmentincome increasing it by almost $4,000 or 68 percent above the control group mean of $4,506. The creditsalso led participants to work an additional 7.2 hoursper week in self-employment, a 100 per cent increaseover the control group mean. Once again, the servicesappeared to be contributing negatively to the impacts. Onaverage, the services reduced self-employment income byabout $2,700, the length of time on a self-employment jobby 13 months, <strong>and</strong> the self-employment work week by 4.6hours.Many self-employed persons typically combine oralternate their self-employment with paid st<strong>and</strong>ardemployment — working for an employer while pursuingtheir own business. Indeed, the credits reduced the rateat which learn$ave participants in the micro-enterprisestream worked for an employer by 18.5 percentage points(not shown), which could be consistent with an increasein the intensity of the self-employment activity relatedto learn$ave. However, as noted, when the services wereadded to the credits, they had a negative impact onself-employment incidence.In the previous chapter, results for assets <strong>and</strong> debtsrevealed some positive impacts on the value of certainassets <strong>and</strong> debts from learn$ave for the entire participantpool. Table 7.7 presents results on the types of assets<strong>and</strong> debts pertinent specifically to the micro-enterprisestream: business assets <strong>and</strong> debts. 5 The expectation wasthat learn$ave would lead to greater business assets forthis stream.Table 7.7 indicates that the matched credits had indeeda significantly positive impact on average business assetsof $3,300 <strong>and</strong> on net business assets (i.e., net of businessdebts) of $5,694. Relative to the control group’s averageassets <strong>and</strong> net assets of $1,819 <strong>and</strong> $715, respectively,these are large impacts. The learn$ave services did notplay role as they did not have a statistically significantimpact on these outcomes (Impacts of Services column),but the negative signs suggest they may have acted toreduce the business asset <strong>and</strong> debt effects of the matchedcredit incentive, in similar fashion to their effect onself-employment income <strong>and</strong> intensity observed above.Turning to education impacts for micro-enterprisestream participants, learn$ave had a positive impact onone measure of educational attitudes (out of the fourquestions asked on the subject). The matched credits decreasedthe proportion of participants at 54 months whodisagreed with the statement about getting a good jobdepends on one’s education by 9.1 percentage impacts,over the control group proportion of 14.3 per cent. Theimpacts on educational attitudes had been stronger at40 months, as Leckie et al., 2009 indicated. Note as wellthat, not surprisingly, a somewhat smaller proportion ofparticipants in this stream had a positive attitude towardseducation compared to education stream participants.Finally, no significant impacts of learn$ave onparticipation in education or training were observed forparticipants in the micro-enterprise stream. None of thedifferences in enrolment between research groups wasstatistically significant. However, in all research groups,the education/training participation rate was, as expected,considerably lower for the micro-enterprise stream(who, as noted, could use their credits for education butwhose primary motive was to start a business) than forthe education stream (who could use their credits foreducation only). For example, about 39 per cent of thecontrol group members in the micro-enterprise streamhad participated in an education or training programsince baseline, compared to about 56 per cent of controlgroup members in the education stream.5 One of the measures shown is “goodwill,” which was computed as the difference between(1) the current equity of the business (excluding debts) <strong>and</strong> (2) the book value of thebusiness assets at purchase.88 | Chapter 7 <strong>Social</strong> <strong>Research</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Demonstration</strong> <strong>Corp</strong>oration
learn$ave Project: Final ReportTable 7.6Impacts on Self-employment (Percentage Points or Average) over the 54 Months, Micro-enterprise Stream Participants – AdjustedControlGroup Meanor IncidenceImpact ofMatched SavingCreditsImpact ofServices whenOffered withServices ∑CombinedImpact of Credits+ ServicesOverall Self-employment Incidence (%)0 self-employment jobs 58.2 -22.8*** 10.3* -12.6**1 self-employment job 29.9 18.8*** -7.8 11.1*2 or more self-employment jobs 12.0 4.0 -2.5 1.5Having any self-employment jobs since baseline 42.1 24.5*** -9.9* 14.6**Formally incorporated (%) 19.2 19.2*** -6.5 12.7**Income <strong>and</strong> Intensity of Self-employment JobsTotal income from self-employment jobs ($) 4,506 3,912** -2,716* 1,195Length of time on self-employment jobs (months) 25.0 6.0 -13.0*** -7.0Hours per week on self-employment jobs (hours) 7.2 7.2*** -4.6** 2.7Paid Staff in Self-employment JobsHaving paid staff (%) 8.4 1.3 -0.9 0.4Total payroll ($) 1,906 1,549 -2,391 -842Source: Calculations from 18-month, 40-month <strong>and</strong> 54-month survey data.Note: The sample sizes for the control, learn$ave-only <strong>and</strong> learn$ave-plus groups are 117, 150 <strong>and</strong> 157, respectively, for the 54-month survey.However, 18 cases were mistakenly skipped over the questions on self-employment, comprising 8 in the learn$ave group, 8 in thelearn$ave-plus group <strong>and</strong> 2 in the control group. These 18 cases were excluded from this table. Sample sizes vary for individual measuresbecause of missing values.Two-tailed t-tests were applied to impacts estimated by regression-adjusted differences in outcomes between research (program <strong>and</strong> control)groups.Statistical significance levels are indicated as * = 10 per cent; ** = 5 per cent; *** = 1 per cent.Rounding may cause slight discrepancies in sums <strong>and</strong> differences.∑The figures in this column show the extra impact of the financial management training <strong>and</strong> enhanced case management services whengiven to those eligible to receive matched credits. It does not represent the impact of those services alone for those not eligible to receive thematched saving credit; it represents the impact of the services when provided with the credits.In summaryThe results indicate that a major objective of thelearn$ave IDA — to encourage low-income people toparticipate in education <strong>and</strong> training — has been met. Itwould appear that the increased bank/learn$ave accountbalances <strong>and</strong> enhanced education attitudes observed inearlier <strong>report</strong>s have led to increased enrolment in education<strong>and</strong> training. Most of the impact was derived fromthe matched credits, as the services did not play much ofan additional role in education impacts.This increased enrolment has taken place mostly inuniversity <strong>and</strong> college programs, not courses. This ispromising, as completion of PSE programs is more likelyto pay off in terms of improved labour market outcomesdown the road, than the completion of individual coursesat lower education levels.The impacts on education program enrolment werewidespread across socio-demographic subgroups butreveal some interesting differences. First, particularlyCanadian-born participants realized large gains asa result of learn$ave, enabling the former to closethe educational attainment gap with the immigrantpopulation. Second, large gains in participation wererecorded among those with no post-secondary educationcertification, which is good news as this group is the mostin need of skills upgrading <strong>and</strong> may end up benefitting themost. Large gains were also experienced by those with auniversity degree at baseline, suggesting learn$ave wasbeing used to upgrade prior education. Third, whether ornot one was a regular saver or future oriented at baselinedid not make much of difference to education enrolmentimpacts, but the fact that non-regular savers realizedgains suggests they can be induced to save for theireducation. Fourth, those who were working at baselinebenefited from the matched credits much more thanthose who were not working, suggesting this may be aprogram better suited to those who have a market sourceof income. Finally, the matched credits positively affectedparticipants’ education enrolment at the two lowestincome levels, suggesting that even those at the bottom ofthe income distribution can be induced to participate inadult education.<strong>Social</strong> <strong>Research</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Demonstration</strong> <strong>Corp</strong>oration Chapter 7 | 89