Content by Keyword: Employment/Self-Sufficiency

Evaluations of welfare-to-work programs operated before FSA's passage found that the programs were most effective for the moderately disadvantaged and least effective for the most disadvantaged and the least disadvantaged (to learn how these groups were defined in NEWWS, read the first finding below).

As already discussed, the most rigorous findings about the relative effectiveness of different program approaches come from the analyses that directly compare the LFA and HCD programs within each site that operated both types of program. Viewed with appropriate skepticism, however, cross-site comparisons can suggest what other program approaches o

Compared with the LFA approach, the HCD approach did not produce additional long-run economic benefits.

Employment-focused programs generally had larger effects on employment and earnings than did education-focused programs. Figure 6 presents all 11 NEWWS programs' impacts on earnings, that is, the differences between the program and control groups' earnings in each site. As shown, three of the four employment-focused programs produced large

All 11 NEWWS programs increased single parents' employment and earnings and decreased their welfare receipt and payments relative to the levels found in the programs' absence.

This section examines the impacts on economic outcomes of the different types of welfare-to-work strategies used by the NEWWS programs. Specifically, it looks at the extent to which the programs improved on what would have happened in their absence; the relative effectiveness of employment-focused and education-focused programs and their variants;

3   See, for example, CLASP Update (Center for Law and Social Policy). 1998. Center for Law and Social Policy. 4   Nonexperimental comparisons are analyses that do not take direct advantage of the random assignment design. Differences found in some comparisons are thus not necessarily indicative of a causal relationship.

The gains in credential receipt and literacy skills that welfare recipients can reap from adult education programs seem to be related to the length of participation in and the quality of such programs.

Welfare-to-work programs that rely on adult basic education programs for the general population are unlikely to improve welfare recipients' basic reading and math skills.

Welfare-to-work programs can increase the proportion of people who obtain a GED or high school diploma -- particularly among recipients who enter the program with literacy skills at or close to the high school level -- but the overall proportion of people who earn such a credential is likely to be low. Increases in the proportion of people who o

The education-focused programs in NEWWS engaged large numbers of people in mandatory education or training classes -- more people than would have enrolled in such classes on their own. The next critical question iswhether higher participation in such classes enabled people in the education-focused programs to acquire the credentials or skills that

1   Throughout this document, ranges are often presented because specific findings differed from site to site.

Employment-focused programs generally produce large increases in job search participation, while education-focused programs usually lead to large increases in adult education participation.

Since the early 1980s, welfare policymakers and program operators have debated what role adult education -- basic education, GED preparation, and ESL classes -- should play in welfare-to-work programs. Even under TANF, discussion about the potential of education to help welfare recipients make the transition from welfare to work continues. Increas

The experiences of the control group members in the NEWWS sites set the standard against which the program groups' experiences were measured (for the programs' impacts, see the next sections). Through examination of control group outcomes, the following portrait of the characteristics, attitudes, and behavior of welfare recipients who are not subj

As has been documented in many studies, most welfare recipients eventually find jobs, and most do not stay on welfare for long. The challenge for welfare-to-work programs is to improve on these rates of job finding and welfare exit by enabling people to find jobs and leave welfare more quickly, to keep jobs longer and avoid returning to the welfar

The 1996 welfare reform law spawned many new welfare policies and encouraged states to experiment with new approaches. Almost all the new policies and innovations, however, take for granted the existence of and build on the quid pro quo established by FSA, namely, that welfare recipients must work or participate in some type of welfare-to-work pro

NEWWS used a random assignment research design to estimate the effects of the studied programs. Welfare recipients were randomly assigned to one of two or three research groups, depending on the site. One of the groups was always a control group. In all the sites, control group members were eligible for welfare as usual. In addition, they were e

The 11 programs in NEWWS were operated in seven sites across the country: Atlanta, Georgia; Grand Rapids, Michigan; Riverside, California; Columbus, Ohio; Detroit, Michigan; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; and Portland, Oregon (for a list of the programs categorized by type, see Table 2 ).

The programs studied in NEWWS were initially run under the federal Family Support Act (FSA). Enacted in 1988, FSA required the government to provide education, employment, and support services to adults receiving cash welfare assistance, known at the time as Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC). Recipients of AFDC, in turn, were required