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In this chapter, we turn to the employment and economic outcome characteristics of TANF recipients. These characteristics have to do with the job experiences and earnings and income that are used to evaluate a respondent’s economic stability and self-sufficiency. Specifically, we include in the area of employment and economic characteristics the subtopics of employment history, including current or most recent job history; reasons for not currently working or never having been employed; participation in work programs and job-skills training; experience with job search and basic work-orientation services; and earnings, income, and child-support payments.
Table III.1 summarizes our recommendations and priorities for measuring employment and economic outcome characteristics in the survey of TANF recipients. The estimate of the total time needed to administer all the “A”-rated items in the employment and economic outcomes domain is roughly seven minutes (Table III.1).
| Employment and Economic Outcomes | Number of Items | Past Survey(s) | Estimate of Time (minutes) | Priority Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Employment History | ||||
| Worked in the past 12 months | 1 | NE; NSAF; SPD | .25 | A |
| No. of months/weeks employed during past 12 months | 1 | NE; NSAF | .25 | A |
| No. of jobs held during past 12 months | 1 | NE | .25 | A |
| Current, Main, or Most Recent job | ||||
| No. of current jobs held | 1 | WES; MO; NE | .25 | A |
| Total hours per week worked at all jobs | 1 | WES; MO; NE; IL; NSAF | .25 | B |
| Job start and end dates | 2 | WES; MO; NE; IL, NSAF | .50 | A |
| Hours worked per week | 1 | WES; MO; NE; IL, NSAF | .25
|
A |
| Whether seasonal or temporary job | 1 | WES; NE; IL; SPD | .25 | A |
| The shift or time of day worked | 1 | WES; NE; IL | .25 | A |
| Industry and occupation | 2 | WES; NE; IL; NSAF; SPD | .50 | A |
| Hourly rate of pay | 1 | NE; IL; NSAF | .25 | A |
| Weekly or monthly earnings | 1 | WES; MO; NE | .25 | A |
| Type of employee benefits offered | 1 | IL; NSAF; SPD | .25 | A |
| Opportunities for advancement at job | 1 | NE | .25 | A |
| Reasons for leaving job | 1 | NE; IL | .25 | A |
| Reasons not Currently Working | ||||
| Main reasons not working | 1 | WES; NE; AC | .25 | A |
| Lowest hourly wage acceptable for taking a job | 1 | WES | .25 | A |
| Perceived hiring discrimination | 1 | WES | .25 | B |
| Participation in Work Programs and Job Skills Training | ||||
| Attended GED classes in past year | 1 | WES; MO; NE; IL | .25 | A |
| Attended other educational training in last year | 1 | WES; MO; NE | .25 | A |
| Job Search and Basic Work Orientation Service Use | ||||
| Attended job search in past year | 1 | WES; NE; NSAF | .25 | A |
| Did it help Respondent get a job? | 1 | WES; NE | .25 | A |
| Earnings | ||||
| Respondent’s total earnings last month | 1 | WES; MO; NE; AC; IL; SPD | .25 | A |
| Did any household members have earnings last month? | 1 |
WES; NSAF; MO; AC; IL |
.25 | B |
| Income | ||||
| Respondent’s income for past month | 1 | WES; NE | .25 | A |
| Other Household member’s income for past month | 1 | WES; MO; NE; IL; NSAF; SPD | .25 | A |
| Total Household income for past year | 1 | WES; MO; NE; IL; SPD | .25 | A |
| Difficulty for Household to live on current Income | 1 | WES; NE | .25 | B |
| Child Support Payments | ||||
| Did Respondent or other Household members receive any child support last month? | 1 | WES; MO; NE; AC; IL | .25 | A |
| Amount of child support received | 1 | IA | .25 | A |
| Did Respondent pay any child support last month? | 1 | NSAF | .25 | B |
| Amount of child support paid | 1 | NSAF; AL | .25 | B |
Employment status is a topic of keen interest to the proposed survey of TANF recipients. The measures used to collect employment information will help evaluate a recipient’s job quality, earnings, wages and employee benefits, and history of job stability or cycling in and out of work. This information will, in turn, help in the assessment of the recipient’s current economic outlook, as well as the recipient’s future potential for economic and personal self-sufficiency.
Few surveys (NSAF, SPD, or Nebraska) collected information on employment history. Questions asked whether the respondent worked during the past 12 months; the number of months, weeks, or hours he or she worked during that time frame; and the number of jobs held. Most surveys, however, covered a core group of measures for evaluating current or recent employment status — including whether the respondent was currently employed and, if not, when the last employment spell occurred, the length of employment, hours worked per week, wages and earnings, industry and occupation, and availability of various employee benefits.
The WES, Nebraska, and Illinois surveys included extra questions covering the topics of seasonal or temporary employment and the usual shift or time of day worked. The WES also included questions on expectations for working at the same job a year from now, how long it would take a person to learn the respondent’s job, and whether the respondent was a union member. The Nebraska survey added two questions on the reasons for a respondent leaving his or her job, if not currently employed, and that person’s perception of advancement opportunities at the current job.
The majority of measures presented in this chapter are important to include in the survey of TANF recipients. They gather basic job information and are needed to assess how respondents are faring in the labor market. Some measures are not crucial — such as, whether a respondent is a union member or how long it would take the respondent to learn a job
We recommend asking a total of 13 measures under the topic of employment status. Three items will cover employment history: (1) whether a respondent worked during the past 12 months, (2) how many months he or she worked during that time, and (3) the number of jobs held. We also recommend asking for the total number of current jobs a respondent has. Time permitting, we would recommend asking for the total hours per week a respondent worked at all jobs.
We recommend asking 10 measures to collect detailed information about a single job, either the respondent’s current job, the main job if he or she holds more than one current job, or the most recent job held. Questions would cover: (1) length of employment, (2) hours worked per week, (3) whether the job is seasonal or temporary, (4) the shift or time of day worked, (5) industry and occupation, (6) hourly rate of pay, (7) weekly or monthly earnings, (8) type of employee benefits offered, (9) perceived job advancement opportunity, and (10) reasons for leaving the job. We recommend using the employment status measures from the Nebraska survey.
Although not all TANF recipients will be unemployed at the time of a survey, many experience periods of unemployment. It is important to determine why a recipient is not currently working at a job, has not worked in the past 12 months, or has never held a job. Indeed, our main purpose in surveying this population is to learn the specific barriers recipients face to finding and maintaining stable and secure employment.
Most surveys collected information on why respondents were not currently working at a job or why they never worked. Instruments varied, however, as to whether the question was worded in a general or a specific way. The former type of question allowed the respondent to say anything that came to mind. The interviewer then coded the response from a list of available codes. The latter type of question focused the respondent on a particular reason why he or she might not be working. The WES included three other measures under this topic: (1) perceptions of discrimination during hiring, (2) the lowest hourly wage a respondent would accept to take a job, and (3) whether a respondent would accept a specific type of job (read from a list) if it was offered
We recommend asking two questions under this topic, using the WES measures. The first question concerns why a respondent is not currently working or has never worked, using general wording and allowing for multiple responses. Although the reasons why a respondent was not working may be answered by the various questions covering barrier measures that we propose, we think it important to ask a general question on the topic, to capture any information that might not be addressed directly by these measures. The second question we recommend is the lowest hourly wage a respondent would accept for taking a job. Time permitting, we also would recommend asking whether the respondent perceived any discrimination during hiring.
Some barriers to employment are directly related to job skills and past work experience. To be employed, even low-wage workers must have some minimum skills. Those with few basic job skills are greatly limited in their work opportunities. Therefore, it is important to measure participation in work and job skills training programs, in order to assess both past behavior and motivation to get a job and go to work.
The survey instruments varied widely on the types of measures they included. The WES, Missouri, and Nebraska surveys included questions that asked whether a respondent attended a GED class or other educational training class in the past year, and whether a respondent took any courses that trained them for a specific job. In the Current Population Survey (CPS), a monthly survey conducted by the Bureau of the Census for more than 50 years, respondents are asked if, during the past 12 months, they ever attended GED classes, job readiness training, a job search program, a job training program, or a work experience program.
In addition, the WES and Illinois surveys gathered detailed information about programs attended during the past year. Questions included the number of programs attended, the hours attended per week, the type of program, the skills learned, whether a job was found as a result of attending the program, and why a respondent stopped attending a program. Only one instrument, SPD, asked whether the respondent was required to participate in work program activities and whether he or she was doing unpaid work as part of their job training.
This topic may be of less importance for our proposed survey, given the limitations on survey length and the fact that state administrative data files can identify respondents who have participated in TANF-sponsored work and job skills training programs. However, data files can be inaccurate and will not capture participation in non-TANF-sponsored programs. We therefore recommend asking two measures under this topic: (1) whether a respondent has attended a GED class in the past year, and (2) whether a respondent has attended any other type of educational training in the past year, using either the Missouri or the Nebraska measure.
Many TANF recipients require some form of job search assistance to find employment. Job search can encompass such tasks as looking through the newspaper want ads, filling out applications, sending resumes to prospective employers, or attending job search programs or workshops. Gathering information about a respondent’s participation in job search provides a measure of their motivation to get a job and go to work.
The type and number of job search measures found in the surveys varied greatly. A few surveys (WES, NSAF, CPS, and Nebraska) asked whether respondents attended a job search program during the past 12 months, whether the program helped them get a job, or whether they got a job as a result of attending a program. The WES and Alameda surveys asked further questions on whether respondents looked for work during the past month and how many weeks they spent looking for work. In addition, the WES asked a long series of detailed questions about job search activities, such as the number of employers contacted, the number of applications filled out, the number of interviews attended, whether they were offered a job, whether they turned it down, and how helpful or frustrating the program was in general.
This topic may be less important for our proposed survey, given the limitations on survey length and our goal of focusing on barriers that have not been adequately measured before. However, we recommend including two measures in order to capture basic descriptive information — first, whether a respondent attended a job search program in the past 12 months, and, second, whether it helped the respondent get a job, using either the WES or Nebraska measures.
Earnings are an outcome measure of critical importance to a survey of welfare recipients. Not only do earnings measure a recipient’s current employment level and self-sufficiency, but they can also indicate future employment potential. This information cannot be gathered from any other source.
The majority of survey instruments included a question asking for a respondent’s earnings during the past month. It is possible to obtain earnings information by multiplying the hourly wage times the hours worked per week. However, if a respondent had more than one current job, that information would be incomplete, since it would measure only earnings from one job instead of all jobs.
The WES, Missouri, Alameda, and Illinois surveys included a question asking for other household member’s earnings during the past month. The survey instruments that did not ask for other household members’ earnings directly did include a question that asked for other household members’ income, which included earnings.
We recommend asking for a respondent’s total earnings during the past month, using either the WES or Nebraska measure. We propose to collect information on other household members’ earnings, together with their income, in one question, and not as a separate item. We do not think it necessary for the purposes of this study to analyze other household members’ income separate from their earnings.
Like earnings, income is another key measure to be included in a survey of TANF recipients. Income measures a recipient’s self-sufficiency and financial hardship. However, collecting respondents’ income alone may not be enough, since they may be pooling resources with other household members, such as a spouse, partner, or other relative.
Most survey instruments used similar income measures. The WES, NSAF, SPD, Missouri, Nebraska, and Illinois surveys all asked for other household members’ income and total household income during the past month and past year. However, only the WES, Nebraska, and Illinois surveys asked for a respondent’s income separately during the same time frame.
Most surveys asked whether the respondent received any money during the past month from various government assistance programs, from family and friends, and from any other sources, as well as the amounts received for each. In addition, the WES, Missouri, and Alameda surveys asked whether any foster child payments were received during the past month, and the amount. The WES and Illinois surveys also asked whether any money was received from other household members last month, and the amount.
The WES and Nebraska surveys asked the respondent to rate the difficulty of living on their present household income. The WES asked about the perceived hardship of making ends meet in the coming two months, and whether the respondent engaged in any informal job activities (specified by reading a list) during the past six months in order to make money.
Given our limitations on survey length and focus on barrier measures, we recommend including three income measures under this topic: (1) respondent income during the past month, (2) other adult household member income during the past month, and (3) total household income for the past year, using either the WES or Nebraska survey measures. Time permitting, we also recommend including the measure from the WES that rates the difficulty for the respondent to live on his or her present household income.
Receipt of child support measures another source of recipient income. It also is an indicator of the nature and extent of financial support for the respondent’s children, as well as family functioning.
Many surveys included measures of child support. The WES, Missouri, Nebraska, Alameda, Illinois, and Iowa Child Impact surveys all asked whether child support payments were received, and the amount that was received. The NSAF asked whether the respondent made any child support payments for children living outside the household, as well as how much was paid over the past 12 months. In addition, the NSAF and Missouri surveys asked whether child support payments were part of a court order.
We recommend including two measures under this topic: whether the respondent received any child support payments last month, and the amount received. Time permitting, we would recommend asking whether the respondent made any child support payments last month for noncustodial children and the amount of payment.
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