In this paper we discuss several key challenges encountered when conducting a study of the continuity of participation in the child care subsidy program. While many of these issues are familiar to those who have studied participation dynamics in other assistance programs, and to those familiar with survival analysis, we describe these challenges…

In 2009, President Obama and his administration sought to overhaul the existing educational reform program and launched their initiative titled Race to the Top (RTTT). RTTT, a competitive grant program, comprised six priorities designed to help states reform their current educational systems. Priority five calls for states to evaluate their…

Child care subsidies are an important part of federal and state efforts to move welfare recipients into employment. One of the criticisms of the current subsidy system, however, is that it overemphasizes work and does little to encourage parents to purchase high-quality child care. Consequently, there are reasons to be concerned about the…

Employer subsidies such as the Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) and the Welfare-to-Work Tax Credit (WtW) are designed to encourage employment by partially reimbursing employers for wages paid to certain welfare recipients and other disadvantaged workers. In this paper, I examine the effects of these subsidies on employment, wages, and job tenure…

We address how childcare subsidies help in the welfare-to-work transition relative to other factors. We examine how the policy operates, whether childcare problems differ by subsidy receipt, and the effect of subsidy on work. Data are from a random sample panel study of welfare recipients after 1996. Findings show that subsidy receipt reduces…

Federal welfare funding through the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant gives states flexibility to help low income parents move into employment. However, the law discourages states from allowing welfare recipients to participate in education and training programs. These restrictions are at odds with recent research…

A series of reviews of the Department of Transportation's (DOT's) Job Access and Reverse Commute (Job Access) Program explored DOT's and grantees' challenges in implementing the Job Access program and the status of DOT's program evaluation efforts. DOT and grantees faced significant challenges in implementing the Job Access program. DOT's process…

This paper provides an early analysis of child care subsidies under welfare reform. The paper reviews the literature on child care subsidies and discusses the potential for such subsidies to be an effective part of the effort to make low-income families economically self-sufficient. The paper then uses data from the National Survey of America's…

Noting Congressional interest in encouraging low-income mothers to seek employment as an alternative to receiving welfare, this report describes a study of the impact of child care expenditures on mothers' decision to work and compares the differences in costs for poor, near-poor, and non-poor mothers. The study developed measures for predicted…