Studies of 29 welfare reform initiatives conducted by the Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation were synthesized in an exploration of how welfare and work policies affect employment and income. Each of the studies reviewed focused on one or more of the following key program features: mandatory employment services, earnings supplements, and time limits on welfare receipt. The synthesis yielded the following key lessons: (1) although a number of programs that provided only mandatory employment services were effective, the most successful of these programs used a mix of services (including some education and training) and strongly emphasized the need to find work; (2) the only programs that both increased work and made families financially better off were those that provided earnings supplements to low-wage workers; and (3) although relatively little is known about the effects of welfare time limits, the available data suggest that time limits need not cause widespread hardship, at least not in the short term. (Twenty-three tables/figures/boxes are included. The bibliography lists 30 references. The following items are appended: a list of 23 key reports from the studies reviewed; program descriptions; program impacts; and a discussion of why including the federal Earned Income Credit does not substantially change program impacts on income.) (MN)