Employment Barriers Among Welfare Recipients and Applicants With Chronically Ill Children

Welfare recipients' job skills and employment prospects.

The welfare reform goal of moving mothers who rely on welfare into private-sector employment cannot be achieved only by changes in public policy. Employment rates reflect the job qualifications of individuals, obstacles to work outside the home, the attractiveness of available jobs, and the capacity of the labor market to absorb new workers at particular skill levels. This article examines how ...

Barriers to Employment Among TANF Applicants and Their Consequences for Self-Sufficiency

This article examines the prevalence of potential barriers to employment using data from a longitudinal study of 1,075 Milwaukee County parents who applied for assistance from Wisconsin’s TANF program in 1999. It also examines whether those potential barriers were related to their subsequent employment and earnings. We find that many of these TANF applicants faced significant and often multiple...

Chronically ill children and fragile families.

Child care subsidies and the employment of welfare recipients.

Changing patterns of maternal employment, coupled with stronger work requirements for welfare recipients, are increasing the demand for child care. For many families, the cost of child care creates a financial burden; for mothers with low incomes and those who are former welfare recipients, these costs may be an insurmountable barrier to employment or economic self-sufficiency. Despite increase...

Correlates of employment among welfare recipients: do psychological characteristics and attitudes matter?

This study examines whether and how a wide range of potential barriers to work, including psychological characteristics and attitudes, are associated with current employment in a recent sample of welfare recipients in Michigan (N = 672). Psychological factors include measures of depressive symptoms, work attitudes, and perceived risks associated with leaving welfare. Over and above demographic,...