Looking to the Future: Welfare-Reliant Women Talk About Their Job Aspirations in the Context of Welfare Reform

We examine the job aspirations of 80 Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) recipients in Cleveland and Philadelphia by drawing on data from in-depth, qualitative interviews conducted in 1997–98, well after the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act was implemented but before time limits were reached. We show that these recipients view the work mandates they face as legitimate and express optimism regarding future work and earnings prospects. They also desire more education. Although their earnings expectations are high, respondents' occupational goals are relatively low, even among those with the most human capital. Furthermore, mothers say their vocational expectations reflect the urgency they feel about finding a job. We suggest that providing cash assistance while TANF recipients increase their human capital is critical for meeting the self-sufficiency goals of welfare reform.     

Mexican Immigrant Self‐Employment Along the U.S.‐Mexico Border: An Analysis of 2000 Census Data*

Objective. This study explores the entrepreneurial tendencies of Mexican immigrants in metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) on the U.S. side of the Mexican border vis‐à‐vis the U.S. interior. Methods. Using 2000 Census data available in the 5% Integrated Public Use Microdata Series, we empirically analyze the self‐employment rates and earnings of Mexican immigrants residing in U.S. cities near Mexico versus those in nonborder MSAs. Results. Our findings indicate that Mexican immigrants in MSAs along the U.S.‐Mexico border have significantly higher self‐employment rates (but lower earnings) than their counterparts in the rest of the United States and non‐Hispanic whites in border cities. Explanations for these findings include the existence of trade opportunities in U.S. border cities as well as intense labor market competition that crowds a greater share of immigrants into self‐employment. Conclusion. Immigration reform that curtails the immigration flow from Mexico might hinder small business formation and economic development on the U.S. side of the Mexican border.     

Welfare reform's impact on caseload decline in the United States: An application of latent trajectory model

This paper examines the effect of welfare reform policies on caseload changes during 1992–2005. Using state-level panel data we estimate latent trajectory models to determine if welfare reform has contributed to changes in the trajectories of caseload growth (decline) beyond what would have naturally occurred through the passage of time. Our results show that (a) states vary considerably in both their mean initial level as well as linear trajectories of caseload changes; (b) welfare reform was responsible for the major share of the decline in caseloads; (c) the economy played a minor role in hastening caseload declines; and (d) other income support policies like EITC and minimum wage also had a role to play.     

Work or welfare – a dilemma in the declining Swedish welfare state

The number of welfare recipients among people of working age increased from 1985 to 1992 in Sweden. Unexpectedly, this increase also took place under the economic boom during the late 1980s, characterized by very low unemployment. This is shown in a study of a 10% representative sample of the Swedish population. Not only has the number of welfare recipients increased, there has been a parallel increase in the relative number of people who are gainfully employed. This trend prevails until 1991, when the employment rates start going down. Until then, the development is characterized by growing polarization (bifurcation) into those who depend on work for their subsistence and those who depend on transfer payments from the welfare system. The development of welfare dependence has been different for men and women. The reasons for this development are discussed. Data about the increasing cost of social security are also presented, showing that the welfare system has not been in any immediate economic crisis from 1985 to 1993.     

Effective workload management in child welfare: Understanding the relationship between caseload and workload

A common assumption in public social service organizations is that workload may be positively associated with caseload. However, few empirical studies have examined what specific characteristics of caseload affect caseworkers' workloads in the child welfare system. This study attempts to address this gap by identifying specific individual and regional factors that influence both subjective and objective dimensions of workloads. Survey data were collected from 1,244 caseworkers at one public child welfare agency in a Midwestern state in the United States. The data indicated that both perceptions of unmanageable workloads and self‐reported overtime work were significantly higher when caseworkers had a greater number of cases than the state caseload standard for the investigations units and worked with at least two different types of cases simultaneously (e.g., working with both investigation and ongoing service cases). Additionally, sufficient staffing numbers to meet caseload demands at the regional level significantly decreased the odds ratio of having to do overtime work. The major findings suggest that the objective and subjective dimensions of workload vary by individual‐ and regional‐level variables. Practice implications are discussed for effective and efficient workload management in the public child welfare system.     

The differential role of human capital and health in explaining welfare exit‐route and labour outcomes

The aim of this study was to determine the differential effects of human capital and health on welfare exit‐route, earnings and working hours among female welfare recipients in Israel. The study also examined whether higher human capital mediates the effect of health problems on the different outcomes. The data were obtained from a national panel survey of 2,700 single mothers who were receiving welfare when the Israeli welfare reform was implemented. The effect of health was found to be more consistent than the effect of human capital. Formal education had no effect on welfare exit‐route, while health did. The effect of health on working hours was more profound than the effect of human capital, while the reverse applied to earnings. Richer human capital did not mediate the effect of health problems. These findings suggest that the prediction power of human capital on labour and welfare decisions has weakened under welfare reform provision.     

海南少数民族地区流动妇女的就业与福利研究

本文主要从海南少数民族地区流动妇女的就业现状来看现有的福利制度所存在的缺陷。首先从流动妇女目前的就业渠道单一、工作待遇差和工作条件恶劣等现状来看流动妇女的就业真正是谁的就业;其次,流动妇女的就业需求无法真正得以表达与实现,同时流动妇女就业所能获得的福利保障低甚至空缺,说明流动妇女的就业与福利之间的关系在于体现现有的福利体制所存在的缺陷由此可能出现的矛盾关系。最后,从流动妇女的就业与福利的边缘性,对现有的福利体制如何改革与完善作进一步的探索。     

The Effects of Depressive Symptoms on Work Activities and Welfare Exit of Welfare Recipients in Korea1

The purpose of this research is to examine the link between depressive symptoms of welfare recipients and their work activity and welfare exit using a secondary dataset, entitled the Korean Welfare Panel Study. In 2000, the National Basic Livelihood Security System (NBLSS) was introduced to (i) ensure a basic standard of living for households in poverty, and (ii) promote work activity and welfare exit of the recipients. A considerable body of literature has reported that the policy outcome of the NBLSS is not a success. However, the reason for the low success rate is unclear. In contrast to studies in the USA, few studies in Korea investigated the effect of depression on welfare‐to‐work transitions. To bridge the gap in the literature, we examine the association between depression, work activity, and welfare exit using a logistic regression analytic method. The analytic results show that the level of depression (total score on the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale) was negatively associated with welfare recipients’ work activity and welfare exit, suggesting that depressive symptoms may be a significant barrier to promoting economic self‐sufficiency. Implications of the study findings are further discussed.     

Allocating resources for child welfare services: the effect of a caseload-driven approach

The authors examine the unintended effects of a funding mechanism based on historical caseload statistics on the number of recorded investigated child abuse and neglect reports in seven California counties from January 1985 to December 1992. Forecasting results show that in five out of the seven counties, in the presence of an allocation methodology based solely on caseload statistics, the number of recorded investigated reports was approximately three to thirty-five percent higher than it would have been had only population measures been used. The findings suggest that a funding mechanism based solely on population measures may eliminate the unintended effects of increasing child welfare caseloads.     

Mothers' postdivorce earnings in the context of welfare policy change

We examined in this study the implications of divorce for mothers' earnings, comparing the 1990s and the 2000s, and illuminating developments in welfare policy for single‐parent families over those two decades. After the welfare reform of 2003, the economic autonomy of single mothers, established through a combination of welfare state‐based benefits and paid labour, was delegitimised, with a turn toward the marketplace. Using a unique data set created for this research by merging Israeli census files for 1995–2008, annual administrative employment records from the National Insurance Institute and the Tax Authority, and data from the Civil Registry of Divorce, we found that most mothers tended to increase their income from paid labor following divorce. However, they did so significantly more prior to the welfare cuts than after the cuts. The results can inform policy discussions about how mothers' postdivorce earnings might be affected by welfare policy shifts.     

Failing the Transition from Welfare to Work: Women Chronically Disconnected from Employment and Cash Welfare*

Objectives. Although employment among welfare mothers increased substantially following the 1996 welfare reform, some former welfare recipients failed to find stable employment. We review the extent to which low‐income mothers are without work and cash welfare for long periods of time and seek to understand the correlates of becoming chronically disconnected. Methods. We analyze data from a 1997–2003 panel study of single mothers who received cash welfare in an urban county in Michigan in February 1997. We develop a new measure of the extent to which former recipients are “chronically disconnected” from both employment and cash welfare and estimate regression models of the correlates of this economic outcome. Results. About 9 percent of respondents became chronically disconnected, defined as being without employment and cash welfare during at least one‐quarter of the months during the 79‐month study period. Important correlates of becoming chronically disconnected include having a physical limitation, having a learning disability, using illegal drugs or meeting the diagnostic screening criteria for alcohol dependence, and having no car or driver license. The chronically disconnected are more likely to have lost a job than to have lost welfare benefits and are more economically disadvantaged than those with regular sources of economic support. Conclusions. To reduce the number of women who fail to make a successful transition from welfare to work, more attention should be given to programs and policies that attempt to reconnect disconnected women to regular sources of economic support.     

Exiting TANF: Individual and Local Factors and Their Differential Influence Across Racial Groups*

Objective. We ask whether individual and local factors known to influence reliance on welfare continue to be important under the TANF program, and if such factors differentially affect exit from TANF for African Americans and whites. Methods. We use monthly administrative data on TANF recipients from October 1996 to July 2004 from the Mississippi Department of Human Services. These data are linked to local economic, social, and spatial characteristics to estimate discrete time hazard models of TANF exit. Results. Personal barriers to work (e.g., low education and children) and limited economic and social opportunities in communities reduce the likelihood of leaving TANF. The results show that African‐American exits from TANF are more influenced by human capital and local economic, social, and spatial conditions than are whites' TANF exits. Conclusion. The work‐first initiative under TANF is most viable where individual barriers to work are limited and economic opportunities and community support to become self‐sufficient exist for all people.     

Rituals of Degradation: Administration as Policy in the Ontario Works Programme

After the election of a neo‐liberal provincial government in 1995, Ontario was at the forefront of work‐based welfare reform in Canada. Many of the sweeping reforms carried out under the banner of the “Common Sense Revolution” received widespread coverage: for example, reductions in welfare rates, the introduction of the Ontario Works programme, the adoption of a zero‐tolerance policy for so‐called welfare fraud, and changes to the rules relating to common‐law spousal relationships. However, much less attention has focused upon significant changes to the ways welfare is delivered. This paper critically interrogates a number of key changes to the Service Delivery Model in Ontario. After the passage of federal legislation in 1995, national entitlements to welfare have been terminated, replaced with local responsibility; this decentralization is changing not only the hierarchy of the regulation of poor people, but also the form and function of provision. In particular, there is evidence of the reinvention of administration towards the micro‐regulation of job search and personal behaviour and the deterrence of welfare receipt as applicants and recipients are bureaucratically disentitled. Although administrative practices have historically acted as a secondary barrier to welfare receipt, the paper suggests that the current incarnation of work‐enforcing reforms could be especially significant as the worlds of welfare and work continue to change.     

Performance Management,Caseloads and the Frontline Provision of Social Services

Caseloads and performance management are important working conditions of workers delivering public social services in street‐level organizations. The literature on these working conditions argues that high caseloads and performance management have considerable consequences for workers' performance in terms of the quality of services they provide and the results they realize. This article empirically investigates and compares these consequences, drawing on the results of a quantitative study of frontline workers in 14 local welfare agencies in the Netherlands. These workers are responsible for the delivery of welfare‐to‐work policies to social assistance recipients. The findings show that high caseloads do, indeed, have a detrimental effect on workers' performance, whereas the impact of performance management is more modest, though confirming some of the findings reported in other studies on performance management. The results also show that by focusing service provision on a proportion of their caseload, workers are able to reduce the negative impact of high caseloads somewhat. Overall, the article finds that the negative impact of high caseloads is more pervasive than that of performance management. The article concludes that the recent focus in the literature on performance management and its consequences for public services should not turn scholars' attention away from the ‘traditional’ public administration problem of high caseload sizes.     

Child welfare workers who are exhausted yet satisfied with their jobs: how do they do it?

In response to a study of Canadian child welfare workers that unexpectedly found participants scoring high on a measure of emotional exhaustion (burnout) and, at the same time, high on overall job satisfaction, this paper reviews research that has investigated these constructs in the social work literature as well as in selected studies from sociology, social psychology, management and women’s studies. The review reveals that some previous studies also report the coexistence of high levels of emotional exhaustion and strong job satisfaction in child welfare and social worker samples. Several studies have suggested that individual characteristics, including finding reward in helping others, having a commitment to the mandate of child welfare and believing that one’s labour is ‘making a difference’, contribute to satisfaction with child welfare work in spite of work overload and emotional exhaustion. Attributions regarding causes of exhaustion, coping strategies and goal orientation may also attenuate the expected negative effects of emotional exhaustion. Considerable evidence supports the positive influence of variables organizational managers can control, including job autonomy, supportive supervisors, workload, promotional opportunities and perception of personal safety. The degree to which this phenomenon is associated with female socialization and the ‘ethic of care’ underlying social work is discussed. Implications for child welfare research, practice and policy are offered.     

From quasi‐markets to public–private networks: Employers' engagement in public employment services

This article explores the implications of creating a role for private‐sector partners in public employment services (PES), rather than creating quasi‐markets. It focuses on how the engagement of employers in public–private networks with local government can enhance employment opportunities for disadvantaged welfare recipients but may require a further shift in local public services. The theory relates to contractual arrangements versus network modes of public–private partnerships. Based on surveys among employers and welfare recipients, and interviews with politicians, managers, and frontline workers in five Dutch municipalities, the article provides detailed evidence on innovative and promising cases of public–private networks in employment services. It shows that, under certain conditions, vulnerable jobseekers are better served by a network involving employers than by the standard supply‐driven approach that predominates in quasi‐markets. It also reveals that public and private partners have yet to fully embrace the implications of the network approach for their respective roles. The article contributes to the theoretical debate on public–private partnerships in the context of PES, reflecting on public–private networks as a policy design that could help improve employment opportunities for disadvantaged jobseekers.     

Financial incentives to work: A quasi‐experimental analysis of in‐work cash benefits for single mothers

This study examined the effectiveness of a voluntary welfare‐to‐work programme nationally implemented in Israel in 2003 and 2004. The programme included temporary in‐work benefits in the form of cash bonuses for single mothers who were receiving Income Support Benefits in 2003, when a far reaching change in the Income Support Scheme was implemented. The study focused on the effect of the bonuses on employment rate, earnings, earnings improvement and welfare exit. Based on administrative data and Propensity Score Matching, the evaluation included all single mothers who participated in the voluntary programme and a comparison group of eligible single mothers who did not participate. The programme had a positive long‐term effect on employment, earnings and earnings improvement among single mothers. However, it had no effect on their rate of exit from the Income Support Programme.     

Free,free, set them free? Are programmes effective that allow job centres considerable freedom to choose the exact design?

Active labour market programmes are expected to be quite effective if job centres have a substantial degree of freedom to deliver tailor‐made individual services. For Germany, we studied the effectiveness of Schemes for Activation and Integration (SAI), which were introduced in 2009 to grant such freedoms to implement short training and private placement services. We estimated SAI participation effects on welfare recipients’ earnings and employment rate using propensity score matching and rich administrative data. We distinguished between participation in in‐firm training or training in other settings, and considered effect heterogeneity by gender, region and non‐employment duration. Participation substantially improved the participants’ earnings and employment rate, in‐firm training more so than training in other settings. Our employment effect estimates were not considerably larger than those previously found for comparable pre‐reform programmes. A lack of experience with SAI and a still inadequate client focus in the period studied might explain this.     

The Negotiation of Child Care and Employment Demands Among Low-Income Parents

Low-income working mothers face significant child care challenges. These challenges are particularly salient in an era of welfare reform, when welfare recipients are under increased pressure to find a job. The current study examines how child care demands are negotiated for an urban sample of low-income mothers. The sample includes a racially and ethnically diverse group of 57 respondents with and without welfare experience who are mothering children under 13 years of age and working in entry-level jobs. Findings suggest that respondents seek arrangements that are affordable, convenient, and safe, and informal arrangements may be most compatible with convenience and cost considerations. Informal care is not universally available, however, andmay be less reliable. Implications for child care policy are discussed.     

Deservingness in the eye of the beholder: A vignette study on the moderating role of cultural profiles in supporting activation policies

People support welfare policy if its beneficiaries are perceived as deserving of support. This study found that individuals’ cultural worldviews play a role in assessing the deservingness of welfare recipients. We investigated whether four different cultural profiles find some beneficiaries to be more deserving than others and how this relates to support for social rights (welfare benefit, retraining, job coach) and obligations (mandatory volunteering). A Dutch vignette experiment showed that reasons for supporting social rights differ between people with different cultural profiles: equality advocates grant support if beneficiaries are needy, while the centre and trusting groups do so when beneficiaries reciprocate. We found that irrespective of deservingness, people with equality‐advocating and trusting profiles tend to be more supportive of social rights, whereas socially discontented citizens tend to emphasise the importance of obligations. In general, obliging beneficiaries to do volunteer work was deemed appropriate by almost all respondents in the study, whereas their cultural values determined the ways in which they considered social rights to have been earned.