<p>Disadvantaged young people facing the school-to-work transition are supported through youth employability programs within an extensive social service sector in modern welfare states. Youth social work is traditionally one of the main providers of these programs. The starting point for our study is the very poor quantitative evidence in this field, which nevertheless frequently serves as a&#xa0;basis for notions of authoritarian top-down regulations and potentially limited beneficial impacts of the programs. Our study is the first and until now the only one that tests these notions quantitatively. Analyzing 24&#xa0;different programs in the German state of Berlin, we investigate whether participants (<i>n</i> = 192) perceive them to have a&#xa0;positive impact and to be participative. Using survey data of the YOU-BLN (Young in Berlin) study, we show that participants perceive the investigated programs as highly beneficial and sufficiently participative. In addition, particularly disadvantaged subgroups perceive the programs as equally beneficial and participative when compared to other subgroups, with some heterogeneity in perceived participation. We conclude that youth employability programs cannot be seen as an authoritarian or ineffective branches of social work.</p>