Family economic well-being following the 1996 welfare reform: Trend data from five non-experimental panel studies (original) (raw)
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2002
This Research-in-Brief is based on selected findings from a forthcoming Institute for Women's Policy Research study, Life After Welfare Reform: The Characteristics, Work, and Well Being of Low-Income Single Parent Families, Pre- and Post-PRWORA. The findings in this study underscore the need to make improvements to the welfare system to address gender and racial inequities and focus on poverty reduction.
Nber Working Paper Series Welfare Reform and Changes in the Economic Well-Being of Children
2002
Since the implementation of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program in late1996, welfare rolls have declined by more than half. This paper explores whether improvements in the economic well-being of children have accompanied this dramatic reduction in welfare participation. Further, we examine the degree to which the success or failure of welfare reform has been shared equally among families of varying educational background. We analyze data from the March Current Population Surveys over the years 1988 through 2001. Specifically, we link data for families with children who are interviewed in adjacent years and determine whether their economic circumstances either improved or deteriorated. We use two alternative approaches to address this general issue: a variety of regression models and a differencein-differences methodology. These approaches provide consistent answers. In a bivariate framework TANF is associated with higher incomes; but this association becomes insignif...
Welfare reform and changes in the economic well-being of children*
Population Research and Policy Review, 2004
Since the implementation of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program in late-1996, welfare rolls have declined by more than half. This paper explores whether improvements in the economic well-being of children have accompanied this dramatic reduction in welfare participation. Further, we examine the degree to which the success or failure of welfare reform has been shared equally among families of varying educational background. We analyze data from the March Current Population Surveys over the years 1988 through 2001. Specifically, we link data for families with children who are interviewed in adjacent years and determine whether their economic circumstances either improved or deteriorated. We use two alternative approaches to address this general issue: a variety of regression models and a differencein-differences methodology. These approaches provide consistent answers. In a bivariate framework TANF is associated with higher incomes; but this association becomes insignificant in the presence of business cycle controls. We also determine that children who were poor at an initial time period benefit differently, depending on their parents' educational attainment level. Poor children with parents who do not have a high school degree are significantly worse off in the TANF era, relative to the era prior to welfare reform, than are their more educated counterparts.
Children and Youth Services Review, 2007
How are children and families faring a decade after welfare reform? Evidence from five non-experimental panel studies The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA; P.L. 104-193) of 1996 formalized a shift in the nature of welfare policy in the United States. Although PRWORA instituted broad changes across multiple programs and policy arenas, including Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Food Stamps, child support, child protection, child care, and child nutrition programs, perhaps the most significant (and certainly the most debated and studied) changes dealt with the provision of cash welfare. The replacement of Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) with Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) ended the entitlement to cash welfare for poor families in the United States that was first created by the Social Security Act of 1935. In addition to providing states with some latitude in the design of their TANF programs, PRWORA also conditioned federal match dollars for cash assistance on work requirements and time limits. At the time of PRWORA's passage, critics argued that these changes would lead to widespread increases in poverty and material hardship, as well as decreases in child and family well-being among low-income single-mother families (Jencks, Winship, & Swingle, 2006). More than a decade after the passage of this landmark legislation, welfare caseloads have decreased and employment rates for single mothers have risen (Blank, 2002; U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Ways and Means, 2004). It appears that PRWORA has not brought about substantial changes in child and family poverty, hardship, or well-being. Evidence linking welfare reform to children's outcomes is mixed, with effects varying by child age and developmental domain (Chase
Welfare reform and child well-being
Children and Youth Services Review, 2006
This paper uses data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) to examine how the pre-and post-1996 welfare reforms influence measures of children's well-being. Despite a large body of research relating welfare reform policies to family structure, employment, and income, fewer studies have used econometric methods on data from multiple states to examine how changes in welfare policies in the pre-and post-TANF periods have influenced children. The results from this study have the potential to shed light on whether policy choices adopted by states are related to children's well-being. Overall, the results do not show evidence that state welfare policies are systematically associated with parenting behavior or child outcomes.
Work, Income, and Material Hardship after Welfare Reform
Journal of Consumer Affairs, 2000
for helpful comments, Barbara Ramsey for clerical assistance, and the M ichigan Family Independence Agency for their cooperation and consultation throughout this project. The opinions expressed are those of the authors exclusively.
Before and After TANF: The Economic Well-Being of Women Leaving Welfare
Social Service Review, 2002
Welfare caseloads have fallen dramatically in the last several years, raising questions about the economic well-being of former participants. We use administrative data from Wisconsin to provide information on the employment, earnings, and income of those who left welfare. We offer a context for understanding postwelfare well-being by making two comparisons. First we compare outcomes for welfare leavers under early Wisconsin reforms with outcomes for those who left under the later, more stringent TANF program. We also make a pre-post comparison of individual experiences, examining a leaver's employment, earnings, and income during a calendar quarter of welfare receipt with these outcomes a year after leaving welfare.
Welfare Reform and the Well-Being of Single Female-Headed Families: A Semi-Parametric Analysis
Review of Income and Wealth, 2001
Single female-headed families with children (SFHFwC) have historically been the primary recipients of federal public cash assistance payments in the United States. Recent welfare reform initiatives established work requirements and cumulative time limits on public cash assistance payments. Three findings in this paper have significant implications for the long-term efficacy of welfare reform initiatives. First, SFHFwC made significant and broad-based gains in their economic well-being from 1993 to 1999. Second, increased propensities of single mothers to leave welfare and enter the workforce from 1993 to 1999, behavior consistent with incentives created by welfare reform measures, do not account for a major portion of these observed gains. Third, improved area economic conditions and increased educational levels of single mothers account for a major share of gains in well-being.