In the United States, multipartnered fertility (MPF) has become commonplace. This study provides the first nationally representative measures of women's MPF, across multiple years, using the U.S. Census Bureau's Surveys of Income and Program Participation. Because welfare rules contain strong incentives for MPF, and because MPF is especially…

The authors explored the relationship among childhood sexual abuse (CSA), physical and mental health work barriers, and employment outcomes using a large panel study of current and former welfare recipients. Controlling for human capital and demographic characteristics, they found CSA was associated with significantly fewer months worked over the…

This document presents a welfare reform proposal designed to ensure a transition toward economic self-sufficiency and an end to poverty. It consists of four distinct elements that form an integrated and interdependent whole. The first element is a series of initiatives to achieve an adequate income maintenance system that guarantees that all needy…

This publication is designed to alert local and state advocates to the presence of the National Coalition on Women, Work, and Welfare Reform. It shares the Coalition's perspective on the welfare employment issue and proposes several initial strategies local advocates or policymakers might use in considering proposed or ongoing welfare employment…

Describes the work of welfare reliant women and reveals commitment to work in the experiences of 84 welfare reliant, rural women interviewed for this study. Discussion focuses on women's formal participation in and barriers to the labor force; survival strategies for making ends meet while receiving welfare; and the stigma of welfare receipt. (BF)

The Job Opportunities and Basic Skills (JOBS) program, a component of the 1988 Family Support Act, emphasizes education and occupational training for welfare recipients, but it has not provided sufficient corrective measures to promote work among recipients of Aid for Families with Dependent Children (AFDC). The most serious deficiency of JOBS is…

California's Greater Avenues for Independence (GAIN) program provides job services, as well as training, education, and support services to Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) recipients to help them attain unsubsidized employment. The GAIN program includes an initial appraisal of participants' basic reading, mathematics, and functional…

Data from the National Survey of America's Families (NSAF) in 13 states for 1997 and 1999 was used to study how welfare reform policies, mandated by the 1996 passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, affected employment of single mothers with children. The states were Alabama, California, Colorado, Florida,…

Workforce Investment Act (WIA) and the TANF (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families) programs can be coordinated in a number of ways, some of them especially focused on women. For example, research suggests the following: (1) WIA and TANF can be coordinated to improve low-income women's human capital development; (2) many states and localities…

This study was conducted to determine how many workers are in low-wage jobs; their characteristics and changes in their characteristics over time; the characteristics of the low-wage jobs; gender, sex, and racial factors influencing participation in low-wage jobs; and the relationship of low-wage work to family poverty and welfare receipt. The…

A study conducted a questionnaire survey of 70 refugee women in Illinois and 2 service provider focus groups to assess the effects of welfare changes on refugee women and to identify barriers to workforce participation. Survey findings were that refugee women in the workforce are concentrated in low-wage jobs and do not earn enough income to move…

Current debates about welfare reform center on the upcoming reauthorization of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) legislation. The provisions of TANF include the elimination of the entitlement to cash assistance, block grant funding to the states, mandatory work requirements, sanctions, a 5-year limit on cash assistance, and…

This book contains 78 of the approximately 100 conference papers presented, in 6 categories: democracy and society, employment and earnings, family and work, poverty and income, health and well being, and miscellaneous, as well as 7 poster session presentations. Representative papers include the following: "Women's Business Ownership: A…

In the context of the reauthorization of the federal Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) block grant, research data about the benefits of resulting programs were synthesized and recommendations were made for changes to current law based on the research. Some of the research findings were that those who leave welfare are not earning…