The entry of working welfare mothers into the labor market will have an impact on the wages and employment of low-skilled workers. This impact was examined through a labor market analysis of available statistical data about the U.S. population and employment patterns. The characteristics of workers likely to enter the labor market because of welfare reform were considered along with the following mediators of the effects of welfare mothers' entry into the labor market: the size of the labor influx, the characteristics of welfare mothers, the state of the economy, migration, and institutional arrangements. The analysis revealed that a 10% increase in the number of working welfare recipients could result in a 0.3% wage decrease for men who were born in the United States and do not have a high school diploma. The analysis did not reveal any discernible short-term negative effects of the public assistance group on low-skilled women. In the long run, however, welfare reform will likely increase the number of low-skilled U.S.-born women in the labor force and thus drive down their wages by as much as 2.2%. The claim that immigrants take wage opportunity away from welfare participants appeared to be unfounded. (Six endnotes and twenty-eight references are included.) (MN)