Although youth employment programs operate on the premise that training will produce economic returns in the form of higher employment probabilities, better jobs, and higher wages, the efficacy of these programs has sometimes been in doubt. To determine if and how these programs produce youths who can find and keep a job, 3-year follow-up data were compared for a national sample of 419 employment training program participants and 356 non-participants of comparable background. Analysis of results showed significantly more months of employment and significantly higher wages for the participants than for the non-participants. These differences were sustained after controlling for the effects of age, sex, race/ethnicity, economic status, local unemployment rate, and preprogram levels of education and reading ability. These effects were greatest in programs which emphasized work experience or on-the-job training. Participant-control differences in months of employment were greater for minority than non-minority youth, and greater for females than for males. Despite these significant results, background, previous education, and local unemployment rates were shown to have a greater effect on economic outcomes than did program participation. (Author/MCF)