A year after the payment-by-results scheme was launched, significant numbers of participants are spending at least three months off benefits according to the data, published yesterday by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
The publication gives the first official insight into Work Programme performance.
It reveals that after nine months, 24% of 28,600 participants that started in June 2011 had already completed at least three successive months off benefits.
According to DWP, early signs are that the figure will have continued to rise and is now - a year into the scheme - perhaps in the region of 30%.
The Government has also published data from Work Programme providers showing that in the three months since the launch of the Youth Contract in April, approximately 17,000 18 to 24 year olds started in a job.
Employment minister Chris Grayling said: "These figures are the first indication that the Work Programme has had a promising start in what's been a very difficult labour market.
"People I meet in the industry already say that performance is well ahead of where it was at the same stage with the Flexible New Deal from which it took over, and this data gives further encouragement. Now the welfare to work industry really has to demonstrate that it can reach new levels in helping the long-term unemployed back to work."
The Work Programme was launched in June 2011 giving tailored support to those at risk of long-term unemployment. Private providers and voluntary organisations are paid according to results, with a job outcome payment being made after 13 or 26 weeks in employment, with further payments being made for sustained employment after that.
Reliable data on job outcomes is not yet available, as most claimants have to be in a job for six months before providers receive an outcome payment. Official Statistics will be published for the first time in the autumn.
The data provides evidence that, 36 weeks into the programme, 48%of the earliest participants - those who started in June 2011 - had had a break in their benefit claim and 24% had spent a continuous 13 week spell off benefits.
Of those who left benefits most quickly - in the first 10 weeks - seven out of 10 were still off benefits 13 weeks later. Taking account of all these figures suggests that the proportion of June starters who will have now spent at least 13 weeks off benefits could be higher than the 24% recorded after nine months, and could be in the region of 30%.
Matthew Fell, CBI director for competitive markets, said: "The Work Programme seems to have made a promising start, with nearly half of participants coming off benefits at some point since joining, but it's still far too early to tell how the programme is performing overall.
"In a challenging economic environment we should take action to make sure the programme delivers on its promise, not write it off.
"The Government and programme providers must work together, and with employers, at a national and local level, to ensure that the programme can grow and fulfil its potential."
The Employment Related Services Association (ERSA), the trade association for the welfare to work industry also welcomed the figures, but said it was a "very narrow release of data from which the overall success of the Work Programme cannot be judged".
ERSA chief executive Kirsty McHugh said: "Welfare to work providers want to be transparent about how they are performing and today's release of figures is therefore welcomed as a first step to cutting through some of the misleading and inaccurate figures being bandied around in some quarters.
"The truth is that the welfare to work industry is pulling out all the stops to help jobseekers into employment despite the challenging economic backdrop. These figures echo ERSA's own, which show that nearly one in four jobseekers that have been on the programme for at least six months have entered work.
"However, the economic backdrop remains worrying as a lack of confidence by employers will delay recruitment decisions."
