The budget for the U.S. Department of Labor for Fiscal Year 2010 includes a total of $45 million to support and study transitional jobs. This paper describes the origins of the transitional jobs models that are operating today, reviews the evidence on the effectiveness of this approach and other subsidized employment models, and offers some…

Time limits on benefit receipt became a central feature of federal welfare policy in the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA). Proponents of welfare reform argued that the time limits in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, would send a firm message to recipients that welfare is…

Millions of welfare recipients have entered the labor force in the past decade, but surveys show that many remain in unstable, low-paying jobs that offer few opportunities for advancement. This report presents early evidence on the effectiveness of four diverse programs designed to help current or former welfare recipients work more steadily and…

This report presents an analysis of the effectiveness of Ohio's Learning, Earning, and Parenting (LEAP) Program in encouraging school attendance by pregnant and parenting teenagers on welfare. It describes LEAP as a statewide program that provides pregnant and parenting teenagers with financial incentives to go to school. The report's eight…

This book, which is intended to give stakeholders in state and local welfare policies a foundation on which to plan state/local reform efforts, summarizes some of the key findings and lessons from 2 decades of research on policies and programs aimed at increasing the self-sufficiency of low-income individuals and families. Chapters 1 and 2, which…

Florida's Family Transition Program (FTP) combines a welfare time limit of 24-36 months with services, requirements, and financial incentives designed to help welfare recipients find and hold jobs. Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) applicants who were not incapacitated, disabled, or otherwise exempt from the FTP program were randomly…

This report examines time-limited welfare beginning at the broadest level, tracing the rapid emergence of time-limited welfare as a policy approach in part I. Chapter 1 examines the history of time-limited welfare and the key challenges posed by this policy. Part II begins to focus on the three participating states--Florida, Vermont, and…

The Parents' Fair Share Demonstration (PFS) was created to boost the incomes of poor noncustodial parents (most of them fathers) so as to increase child support payments and decrease the number of welfare recipients. This report gives the results of a nine-site pilot program, which operated from early 1992 through 1993. The program addressed two…

A study examined time limits from the perspectives of welfare recipients and line staff in welfare agencies. Data on time-limited welfare were drawn from staff surveys and from group and individual interviews with both staff and recipients in selected locations in Florida, Vermont, and Wisconsin during the first half of 1996. Findings indicated…

A study focused on results from seven of the earliest state welfare reform initiatives with some form of welfare time limit. Four programs--Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, and Wisconsin--- included benefit-termination time limits triggering cancellation of a family's entire welfare grant. Arizona and Indiana imposed benefit-reduction time limits,…

The Connecticut Jobs First welfare reform initiative, implemented statewide in 1996, includes a 21-month time limit on cash assistance, generous financial work incentives, and other features. Its primary goal is to reduce welfare use and increase self-sufficiency through work. To facilitate evaluation of the program, between January 1996 and…

This report describes the first 2 years of Connecticut's Jobs First program operation. Chapter 1 describes the following: the policy context; the program's three main features--time limit, earned income disregard, and mandatory "work first" employment services; the evaluation and implementation analysis; and the research sites and target…

Connecticut's Jobs First program was subjected to a rigorous, large-scale evaluation. During the evaluation, nearly 5,000 single-parent welfare applicants and recipients in 2 cities were randomly assigned to Jobs First or to the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) group. Each group's progress was compared over a 4-year period. The…

This report focuses on implementation, impacts, and time limit in Florida's Family Transition Program (FTP), a welfare reform initiative. Chapter 1 describes FTP and evaluation, target population, and data. Chapter 2 describes implementation of FTP in Escambia County: staffing and organizational structure of FTP and traditional Aid to Families…

This report focuses on people who entered the Jobs First evaluation when they were applying for or receiving cash assistance in the Manchester and New Haven (Connecticut) Department of Social Services offices between January-June 1996 and who left cash assistance within 18 months after entering the program (before reaching the 21-month time…