Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 30 of 35

Full-Text Articles in Social Welfare

Using Linked Survey And Administrative Data To Better Measure Income: Implications For Poverty, Program Effectiveness And Holes In The Safety Net, Bruce D. Meyer, Nikolas Mittag Nov 2015

Using Linked Survey And Administrative Data To Better Measure Income: Implications For Poverty, Program Effectiveness And Holes In The Safety Net, Bruce D. Meyer, Nikolas Mittag

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

We examine the consequences of underreporting of transfer programs in household survey data for several prototypical analyses of low-income populations. We focus on the Current Population Survey (CPS), the source of official poverty and inequality statistics, but provide evidence that our qualitative conclusions are likely to apply to other surveys. We link administrative data for food stamps, TANF, General Assistance, and subsidized housing from New York State to the CPS at the individual level. Program receipt in the CPS is missed for over one-third of housing assistance recipients, 40 percent of food stamp recipients, and 60 percent of TANF and …


Eligibility Recertification And Dynamic Opt-In Incentives In Income-Tested Social Programs: Evidence From Medicaid/Chip, Zhuan Pei Sep 2015

Eligibility Recertification And Dynamic Opt-In Incentives In Income-Tested Social Programs: Evidence From Medicaid/Chip, Zhuan Pei

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

Conventional labor supply studies assume constant eligibility monitoring of income-tested program participants, but this is not true for most programs. For example, states can allow children to enroll in Medicaid/CHIP for 12 months regardless of family income changes. A long recertification period reduces monitoring costs but is predicted to induce program participation by temporary income adjustments. However, I find little evidence of strategic behavior from the 2001 and 2004 Survey of Income and Program Participation. Given the lack of dynamic responses, I propose a framework to compute the optimal recertification period and find 12 months to be its lower bound.


Use Of Unemployment Insurance And Public Employment Services After Leaving Welfare, Christopher J. O'Leary Sep 2015

Use Of Unemployment Insurance And Public Employment Services After Leaving Welfare, Christopher J. O'Leary

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

In this paper I examine the rates at which adults in households recently receiving Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) become jobless, apply for and receive unemployment insurance (UI) benefits, and participate in publicly funded employment services. I also investigate the correlation of UI and employment services receipt with maintenance of self-sufficiency through return to work and independence from TANF. The analysis is based on person-level administrative program records from four of the nine largest states between 1997 and 2003. Evidence suggests that three-quarters of new TANF leavers experience joblessness within three years, and one-quarter of the newly jobless apply …


How Long Before Recertifying Medicaid And Chip Children?, Zhuan Pei Oct 2014

How Long Before Recertifying Medicaid And Chip Children?, Zhuan Pei

Employment Research Newsletter

No abstract provided.


Use Of Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program Benefits By Unemployment Insurance Applicants In Michigan During The Great Recession, Christopher J. O'Leary, Kenneth J. Kline Mar 2014

Use Of Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program Benefits By Unemployment Insurance Applicants In Michigan During The Great Recession, Christopher J. O'Leary, Kenneth J. Kline

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

During the Great Recession, both the Supplementary Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the federal-state unemployment insurance (UI) program experienced dramatic increases in participation. Using Michigan program administrative data on all SNAP (2006–2011) recipients and all UI (2001–2010) applicants, we examine SNAP use before and after UI application. Both past and future receipts of SNAP are highly negatively correlated with meeting UI income and job separation eligibility requirements. Unemployment insurance applicants with insufficient wage credits or job separations because of quitting or employer discharge are much more likely to have received SNAP in the past. Furthermore, such UI applicants are also …


What Works In Work-First Welfare: Designing And Managing Employment Programs In New York City, Andrew R. Feldman Jan 2011

What Works In Work-First Welfare: Designing And Managing Employment Programs In New York City, Andrew R. Feldman

Upjohn Press

This book is a case study of how New York City's welfare-to-work programs were managed and implemented in the mid 2000s. Feldman also analyzes the unique characteristics that differentiate it from other programs in place across the country.


Unemployment After Welfare Reform, Christopher J. O'Leary Apr 2010

Unemployment After Welfare Reform, Christopher J. O'Leary

Employment Research Newsletter

No abstract provided.


Mothers' Work And Children's Lives: Low-Income Families After Welfare Reform, Rucker C. Johnson, Ariel Kalil, Rachel E. Dunifon Feb 2010

Mothers' Work And Children's Lives: Low-Income Families After Welfare Reform, Rucker C. Johnson, Ariel Kalil, Rachel E. Dunifon

Upjohn Press

This book examines the effects of work requirements imposed by welfare reform on low-income women and their families. The authors pay particular attention to the nature of work—whether it is stable or unstable, the number of hours worked in a week and the regularity and flexibility of work schedules. They also show how these factors make it more difficult for low-income women to balance their work and family requirements.


Food Stamp Participation Among Adult-Only Households, David C. Ribar, Marilyn J. Edelhoch, Qiduan Liu Sep 2009

Food Stamp Participation Among Adult-Only Households, David C. Ribar, Marilyn J. Edelhoch, Qiduan Liu

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

Several recent changes in the Food Stamp Program have been directed toward households without children. Some, including new work requirements for able-bodied adults without dependents (ABAWDs), were intended to promote self-sufficiency, while others, including easier application and recertification procedures, were intended to increase participation among underserved groups, such as the disabled and the elderly. Despite their relevance to policymakers, adult-only households have been examined by only a few studies. We use administrative records from South Carolina and event-history methods to investigate how spells of food stamp participation for adult-only households vary with ABAWD provisions, recertification intervals, economic conditions and other …


Women, Work, And Welfare Reform, Kristin S. Seefeldt Apr 2009

Women, Work, And Welfare Reform, Kristin S. Seefeldt

Employment Research Newsletter

No abstract provided.


Income Volatility And Food Assistance In The United States, Dean Jolliffe Editor, James P. Ziliak Editor Oct 2008

Income Volatility And Food Assistance In The United States, Dean Jolliffe Editor, James P. Ziliak Editor

Upjohn Press

This book provides a much-needed look at recent trends in income volatility and its effects on the design of and participation in the nation's food assistance programs.


Working After Welfare: How Women Balance Jobs And Family In The Wake Of Welfare Reform, Kristin S. Seefeldt Jan 2008

Working After Welfare: How Women Balance Jobs And Family In The Wake Of Welfare Reform, Kristin S. Seefeldt

Upjohn Press

This book, tapping into the quantitative and qualitative evidence gathered in the Women’s Employment Study (WES), offers insights into the lives of women in an urban Michigan county who left welfare for work and the role their family decisions play in their labor market decisions.


The Geography Of American Poverty: Is There A Need For Place-Based Policies?, Mark D. Partridge, Dan S. Rickman Sep 2006

The Geography Of American Poverty: Is There A Need For Place-Based Policies?, Mark D. Partridge, Dan S. Rickman

Upjohn Press

Partridge and Rickman explore the wide geographic disparities in poverty across the United States. Their focus on the spatial dimensions of U.S. poverty reveals distinct differences across states, metropolitan areas, and counties and leads them to consider why antipoverty policies have succeeded in some places and failed in others.


Welfare And Work: Experiences In Six Cities, Christopher T. King, Peter R. Mueser Aug 2005

Welfare And Work: Experiences In Six Cities, Christopher T. King, Peter R. Mueser

Upjohn Press

King and Mueser examine changes in welfare participation and labor market involvement of welfare recipients in six major cities during the 1990s. By focusing on these six cities (Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Fort Lauderdale, Houston, and Kansas City) they are able to glean the extent to which differences in state and local policy, administrative directives, and local labor market conditions contribute to the trends in caseloads, employment, and well-being observed among former recipients.


Urban Welfare And Work Experiences: Implications For Welfare Reform, Christopher T. King, Peter R. Mueser Jul 2005

Urban Welfare And Work Experiences: Implications For Welfare Reform, Christopher T. King, Peter R. Mueser

Employment Research Newsletter

No abstract provided.


Welfare Reform, Saving, And Vehicle Ownership: Do Asset Limits And Vehicle Exemptions Matter?, James X. Sullivan May 2005

Welfare Reform, Saving, And Vehicle Ownership: Do Asset Limits And Vehicle Exemptions Matter?, James X. Sullivan

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

This paper examines whether AFDC/TANF asset tests affect the asset holdings of low-educated single mothers, exploiting variation in asset limits and exemptions across states and over time. There are important reasons to examine vehicle assets in this context. For example, vehicles make up a very significant share of total wealth for poor families, and the variation in vehicle exemptions over time and across states far exceeds the variation in asset limits. Consistent with other recent research, I find little evidence that asset limits have an effect on the amount of liquid assets that single mothers hold. However, I find evidence …


Leaving Welfare: Challenges In A New Economy, Gregory Acs, Pamela Loprest Oct 2004

Leaving Welfare: Challenges In A New Economy, Gregory Acs, Pamela Loprest

Employment Research Newsletter

No abstract provided.


Single Mothers Working At Night: Standard Work, Child Care Subsidies, And Implications For Welfare Reform, Erdal Tekin Sep 2004

Single Mothers Working At Night: Standard Work, Child Care Subsidies, And Implications For Welfare Reform, Erdal Tekin

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

This paper estimates the effect of child care subsidies on the standard work decision of single mothers and examines whether this effect differs between welfare recipients and nonrecipients. The analysis uses data from the 1999 National Survey of America's Families. Results suggest that child care subsidy receipt is associated with a 6.9 percentage point increase in the probability of single mothers' working at standard jobs. When the effect of subsidy receipt is allowed to differ between welfare recipients and nonrecipients, results indicate that welfare recipients who are offered a child care subsidy are 14 percentage points more likely to work …


Leaving Welfare: Employment And Well-Being Of Families That Left Welfare In The Post-Entitlement Era, Gregory Acs, Pamela Loprest Jan 2004

Leaving Welfare: Employment And Well-Being Of Families That Left Welfare In The Post-Entitlement Era, Gregory Acs, Pamela Loprest

Upjohn Press

Acs and Loprest pull together information from a host of leaver studies to provide a bottom line assessment of what was learned. They compare welfare leaver outcomes across geographic areas and the nation as a whole. This effort allows them to paint a comprehensive picture of the employment, income, and hardships families experience after leaving welfare.


Instrumental Variable Estimates Of The Labor Market Spillover Effects Of Welfare Reform, Timothy J. Bartik Apr 2002

Instrumental Variable Estimates Of The Labor Market Spillover Effects Of Welfare Reform, Timothy J. Bartik

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

By increasing the labor supply of welfare recipients, welfare reform may reduce wages and increase unemployment among other less-educated groups. These "spillover effects" are difficult to estimate because welfare caseloads decrease in response to improvements in the economy, which leads caseload reductions to be associated with improvements in labor market outcomes. This paper corrects for the endogeneity of caseloads by using instruments that reflect policy. The estimates suggest that welfare reform has significant spillover effects: welfare reform reduces employment of male high school dropouts, and reduces wages of single mothers and male high school dropouts.


As The Dust Settles: Welfare Reform And Rural America, Leslie A. Whitener, Bruce A. Weber, Greg J. Duncan Apr 2002

As The Dust Settles: Welfare Reform And Rural America, Leslie A. Whitener, Bruce A. Weber, Greg J. Duncan

Employment Research Newsletter

No abstract provided.


Rural Dimensions Of Welfare Reform, Bruce A. Weber Editor, Greg J. Duncan Editor, Leslie A. Whitener Editor Jan 2002

Rural Dimensions Of Welfare Reform, Bruce A. Weber Editor, Greg J. Duncan Editor, Leslie A. Whitener Editor

Upjohn Press

This volume presents a comprehensive look at how welfare reforms enacted in 1996 are affecting caseloads, employment, earnings, and family well-being in rural areas.


The Effect Of Child Care Costs On The Labor Force Participation And Welfare Recipiency Of Single Mothers: Implications For Welfare Reform, Rachel Connelly, Jean Kimmel Mar 2001

The Effect Of Child Care Costs On The Labor Force Participation And Welfare Recipiency Of Single Mothers: Implications For Welfare Reform, Rachel Connelly, Jean Kimmel

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

This paper considers the effect of child care costs on two labor market outcomes for single mothers - whether to participate in the labor market and whether to receive welfare. Hourly child care expenditures are estimated for all women in the sample (using data drawn from the 1992 and 1993 panels of the SIPP), whether or not they are currently using nonmaternal child care. These expenditures are then included as an independent variable predicting the probability of welfare recipiency and the probability of labor force participation. Results show a substantial positive effect of child care costs on welfare recipiency, with …


Employment As A "Solution" To Welfare: Challenges Over The Next Ten Years, Timothy J. Bartik Apr 2000

Employment As A "Solution" To Welfare: Challenges Over The Next Ten Years, Timothy J. Bartik

Employment Research Newsletter

No abstract provided.


Will Welfare Reform Cause Displacement?, Timothy J. Bartik Apr 1999

Will Welfare Reform Cause Displacement?, Timothy J. Bartik

Employment Research Newsletter

No abstract provided.


Examining The Effect Of Industry Trends And Structure On Welfare Caseloads, Timothy J. Bartik, Randall W. Eberts Feb 1999

Examining The Effect Of Industry Trends And Structure On Welfare Caseloads, Timothy J. Bartik, Randall W. Eberts

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

Previous studies of the macro-economic determinants of welfare caseloads have had difficulty in explaining changes in welfare caseloads during the last decade or so using the simple macroeconomic measure of unemployment. Because welfare recipients will typically get entry-level jobs, employment variables that are closely related to job vacancies, such as employment growth, are also important in determining welfare caseloads, as we show empirically in this study. Recognizing that welfare recipients face more substantial barriers to employment than those who typically have more education and skills, we constructed several macro-economic variables that reflect the education requirements of industries and the predominance …


Economic Conditions And Welfare Reform, Sheldon Danziger Editor Jan 1999

Economic Conditions And Welfare Reform, Sheldon Danziger Editor

Upjohn Press

The relationship between welfare caseloads and the economy is one of the key issues addressed in this book. Using the most current data available, a group of the nation's leading researchers examines the effects of welfare reform prior to and after enactment of the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA).


Jobs For Welfare Recipients, Timothy J. Bartik Apr 1997

Jobs For Welfare Recipients, Timothy J. Bartik

Employment Research Newsletter

No abstract provided.


Lessons For Welfare Reform: An Analysis Of The Afdc Caseload And Past Welfare-To-Work Programs, David M. O'Neill, June O'Neill Jan 1997

Lessons For Welfare Reform: An Analysis Of The Afdc Caseload And Past Welfare-To-Work Programs, David M. O'Neill, June O'Neill

Upjohn Press

The authors have compiled and analyzed data that identifies historical trends in the AFDC caseload, the personal characteristics of recipients, and broad patterns of welfare participation. They also offer an evaluative survey on the effectiveness of past education, training and workfare programs in reducing the AFDC caseload.


Performance Standards And Welfare Reform, Timothy J. Bartik Apr 1996

Performance Standards And Welfare Reform, Timothy J. Bartik

Employment Research Newsletter

No abstract provided.