Date: Saturday, September 6, 2025
Hello, AEA365 community! Liz DiLuzio here, Lead Curator of the blog. This week is Individuals Week, which means we take a break from our themed weeks and spotlight the Hot Tips, Cool Tricks, Rad Resources and Lessons Learned from any evaluator interested in sharing. Would you like to contribute to future individuals weeks? Email me at AEA365@eval.org with an idea or a draft and we will make it happen.
Greetings from Boston. I’m Wheeler del Torro, an evaluator working at the intersection of workforce dynamics and program evaluation. Today I want to reflect on how recent shifts in labor trends are reshaping careers in evaluation.
Did you know that, since January 2025, about 212,000 women aged 20 and older have left the U.S. labor force? In comparison, 44,000 men have entered it (Time, Allwork). The steepest drop was among mothers of young children. Labor-force participation among women aged 25–44 with young kids fell nearly three percentage points between January and June (Washington Post).
Key drivers include:
In response, many women are pivoting to freelancing, entrepreneurship, or graduate school. These choices offer flexibility but come with risks: income instability, loss of benefits, and slower career advancement.
Another workforce trend we’re seeing is the rise in Training Repayment Agreement Provisions (TRAPs) in new employees’ contracts. TRAPs require workers to repay training costs if they leave before a set time. Once limited to high-skill fields like aviation or tech, TRAPs are now common in nursing, trucking, beauty services, and retail (Wired).
A high-profile example comes from PetSmart’s Grooming Academy. In 2022, a lawsuit alleged that new groomers, promised “free training,” were bound by contracts requiring repayment of up to $5,500 if they left within two years (CBS News). In 2025, the Colorado Attorney General also sued PetSmart, claiming the company misled workers with “free training” advertising while enforcing predatory repayment clauses (Protect Borrowers).
Critics liken TRAPs to “shadow student loans” because they limit labor mobility, inflate costs that workers must repay, and lock employees into low-wage or hostile conditions.
As a result, TRAPs are drawing attention at both state and federal levels:
These protections are especially relevant for grant-dependent evaluators whose employment can end abruptly. As we know, program evaluation is deeply tied to funding cycles. When grants shrink or expire:
Combined with TRAPs, this volatility creates a double jeopardy: job loss plus potential debt repayment.
Here are some ways evaluators can protect themselves in light of these labor market shifts:
And, specifically for women evaluators who are re-entering the workforce:
The convergence of TRAPs, gender disparities, and funding instability creates a storm for evaluators. Resilience will come from awareness, adaptability, and strategic planning. Beyond individual careers, these efforts are crucial for sustaining evaluation as a profession in volatile times.
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