Child Care And The Welfare To Work Transition

We assess the role of child care in the welfare to work transition using an unusually large and comprehensive data base. Our data are for Massachusetts, a state that began welfare reform in 1995 under a federal waiver, for the period July 1996 through August 1997. We find that both the nature of the child care market and the availability and policies of subsidized care and early education affect the probability that current and former welfare recipients will work. Regarding the child care market, we find that the availability of care is most consistently related to employment. However, the price and quality of care also matter. We also find that increased funding for child care subsidies, and the availability of full day kindergarten and Head Start significantly increase the probability that current and former welfare recipients work. Higher state payments to providers are associated with increased probabilities of work. Finally, recipients are more likely to work when they are subject to a work requirement. The effects of imposing time limits on cash assistance are less clear.

We assess the role of child care in the welfare to work transition using an unusually large and comprehensive data base. Our data are for Massachusetts, a state that began welfare reform in 1995 under a federal waiver, for the period July 1996 through August 1997. We find that both the nature of the child care market and the availability of subsidized care and early education affect the probability that current and former welfare recipients will work. Regarding the child care market, we find that the cost, stability and quality of care matter. We also find that child care subsidies and some types of early education serve to increase employment. To be more specific, we find that increased funding for child care subsidies and the availability of full day kindergarten significantly increase the probability the current and former welfare recipients work

Although federal and state support for childcare has increased dramatically in response to welfare work requirements, low-income families are still facing difficulties balancing work and family obligations. There is wide variation across states in the strictness of welfare work requirements and in the generosity of childcare support. In addition, the level of co-payments required and the flexibility to use subsidies for informal modes of childcare differ across states, leading families to make different childcare and employment choices. The purpose of From Welfare to Childcare is first to describe what changes occurred in childcare following the 1996 welfare reform legislation, and then to analyze how federal welfare and subsidy policies influence the availability, accessibility, and quality of childcare arrangements for single mothers with young children. National in scope, it focuses on how the reforms influence the way that children are cared for when their mothers leave welfare and enter the workforce. This book is suitable for national, state, and local policymakers, non-profit organizations that study and attempt to influence public policy, and scholars interested in family and social policy issues. It can be used as a text in graduate level courses on welfare, poverty, and children and public policy.

Focuses on the efforts of 7 states -- California, Connecticut, Louisiana, Maryland, Oregon, Texas, and Wisconsin -- to modify their child care subsidy programs under the new welfare reform law. Identifies the amounts of federal and state funds that states are spending on child care subsidy programs and how they are allocating these resources among welfare families, families making the transition from welfare to work, and working poor families. Examines how states are trying to increase the supply of child care to meet the projected demand under welfare reform, and the extent to which states are changing standards for child care providers. Tables.

How well do you understand the sweeping welfare reforms of the mid-1990s? The Transition from Welfare to Work: Processes, Challenges, and Outcomes provides a comprehensive examination of the welfare-to-work initiatives that were undertaken just prior to and following the major reform of United States welfare legislation in 1996. It will familiarize you with the intent of those reforms and show you how those interventions have been implemented. It also explores the barriers to employment that must be overcome by welfare-to-work clients, and the impact of these changes on clients, employers, and society. From the editors: “Although the numbers enrolled in welfare programs dropped dramatically in the last few years of the economic expansion of the 1990s, until recently we have known very little about the conditions of families affected by welfare-to-work policies. How did welfare-to-work interventions change the lives of participants and their families? What factors helped or hindered the transition to paid work? Are welfare-to-work policies likely to have actually improved the earnings or income of former AFDC recipients? This book studies all these questions.” The Transition from Welfare to Work: Processes, Challenges, and Outcomes presents qualitative, quantitative, and econometric analyses as well as panel studies, longitudinal, and quasi-experimental designs. Beginning with a brief description of the goals and structure of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, this book examines all of the phases of the welfare-to-work process. Use it to increase your understanding of: the implementation of interventions designed to place TANF recipients in jobs the factors that impact the readiness of low-income women to enter the job market the outcomes of current and earlier welfare-to-work interventions the steps we need to take to know how these citizens are faring in the welfare-to-work environment and more!

Although federal and state support for childcare has increased dramatically in response to welfare work requirements, low-income families are still facing difficulties balancing work and family obligations. There is wide variation across states in the strictness of welfare work requirements and in the generosity of childcare support. In addition, the level of co-payments required and the flexibility to use subsidies for informal modes of childcare differ across states, leading families to make different childcare and employment choices. The purpose of From Welfare to Childcare is first to describe what changes occurred in childcare following the 1996 welfare reform legislation, and then to analyze how federal welfare and subsidy policies influence the availability, accessibility, and quality of childcare arrangements for single mothers with young children. National in scope, it focuses on how the reforms influence the way that children are cared for when their mothers leave welfare and enter the workforce. This book is suitable for national, state, and local policymakers, non-profit organizations that study and attempt to influence public policy, and scholars interested in family and social policy issues. It can be used as a text in graduate level courses on welfare, poverty, and children and public policy.

This work grew out of a conference held in Washington, D.C. in June 2003 on "Workforce/Workplace Mismatch: Work, Family, Health, and Well-Being" sponsored by the National Institute of Health (NIH). The text considers multiple dimensions of health and well-being for workers and their families, children, and communities.

This book describes the challenges facing the country's working poor, drawing lessons from practice and policy to recommend approaches for helping low-wage workers advance to better-paying jobs. Part I overviews the low-wage workforce and the employers who hire them, and Part II summarizes the evidence on strategies to improve workers' skills, supplement their wages, and provide greater support. Part III focuses on challenges encountered by groups such as women and immigrants, and Part IV assesses the potential contributions of community colleges, employers, and unions. Much of this material originated at a May 2000 conference held in Washington, DC. The editors are affiliated with Jobs for the Future. c. Book News Inc.