In-depth interviews with 75 California recipients of Aid to Families of Dependent Children (AFDC) were conducted to determine employment histories and identify possible causes. Expected factors such as family size, education, health, and motivation were not major determinants of work histories in this sample. Unemployment was related most strongly with race, migration from the South, youth, and divorced or unmarried status. The mothers' attitudes toward work, the employment service, and the welfare system were described. Attention was drawn to frequently overlooked aspects of employment, such as the importance of personal friends in job-seeking, the indirect effect of financial incentives to work, and the important role of unplanned first pregnancies as opposed to family planning programs' focus on later pregnancies. (Author/BH)