The Employment and Earnings of Nonresident Fathers in Wisconsin

In this chapter, we describe several aspects of the labor market performance of a sample of fathers of children whose mothers participate in Wisconsin Works (W-2). We track labor market outcomes for these fathers during calendar years 1998 and 1999, after the AFDC program was replaced by the W-2 program. Welfare reform in this period had direct and dramatic consequences for resident parents on welfare (mostly mothers). The impact on nonresident fathers was generally indirect. However, aspects of welfare reform, particularly the end to low-income mothers’ entitlement to cash assistance, have encouraged renewed interest in the potential to increase the child support paid by nonresident fathers. In this chapter we consider measures of nonresident parents’ labor market outcomes, which have important implications for fathers’ potential to provide economic support to their children.