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Several Midwestern states have been leaders on welfare reform in the 1990sand have led the way for other states in implementing the federal Personal Responsibility andWork Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996. This book provides detailed analyses of thepolitical rationales and processes that preceded the federal direction to states to dramatically altertheir welfare programs and administrative systems. It discusses implementation choices as wellas difficulties and successes in carrying out those choices. The book also analyzes the role ofpolitical parties, interest groups, foundations, think tanks, and academics in setting agendas andformulating policy. The book features chapters describing and analyzing welfare reform, boththeir development, and implementation in five states Kansas, Michigan , Minnesota, Ohio,and Wisconsin. ... Read more

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Reform of welfare is one of the nation's most contentious issues, with debate often driven more by politics than by facts and careful analysis. Evaluating Welfare Reform in an Era of Transition identifies the key policy questions for measuring whether our changing social welfare programs are working, reviews the available studies and research, and recommends the most effective ways to answer those questions.

This book discusses the development of welfare policy, including the landmark 1996 federal law that devolved most of the responsibility for welfare policies and their implementation to the states. A thorough analysis of the available research leads to the identification of gaps in what is currently known about the effects of welfare reform.

Evaluating Welfare Reform in an Era of Transition specifies what-and why-we need to know about the response of individual states to the federal overhaul of welfare and the effects of the many changes in the nation's welfare laws, policies, and practices.

With a clear approach to a variety of issues, Evaluating Welfare Reform in an Era of Transition will be important to policy makers, welfare administrators, researchers, journalists, and advocates on all sides of the issue. ... Read more

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The issue of pension provision on divorce has been a contentious one for years, and often one partner is left with inadequate provision. It is against this background that the Welfare Reform and Pension Sharing Act introduces a framework for pension sharing. This text looks at this Act closely. ... Read more

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The Collapse of Welfare Reform examines and compares a decade of welfare reform policy efforts in the United States and Canada, explaining the failure of each. While many scholars attribute differences in welfare policy to socioeconomic factors, Leman contends that political factors were responsible for these differences in the two countries under study. His is the only detailed and comparative recent work on public assistance policy and is one of the few book-length comparisons of the United States and Canada on any subject. It updates past discussions of U.S. welfare reform by discussing President Carter's Program for Better Jobs and Income as well as former President Nixon's Family Assistance Plan, and provides the most comprehensive account available of the Canadian Social Security Review and its aftermath.

The issues, data, and lessons presented in this book will interest political scientists, social workers, policy planners, and general readers who are involved in welfare assistance programs and issues. ... Read more

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The world is in the midst of the telecommunications revolution. What this means is that societies throughout the world are now provided with new opportunities to solve nagging problems. One problem, which is the focus of this book, is the continual pockets of poverty that exist in countries around the world. In this regard welfare reform has been slow in coming, as nations struggle to allocate limited resources for meeting the needs of the citizens within their boundaries. This book describes a welfare model that can be implemented in any country in the world, although the example used in this book is that of one country. The welfare reform model suggested here is about freedom, opportunity, and equality. At its conclusion it challenges the reader to take welfare reform to the next level. ... Read more

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Finding Jobs is an informative and wide-ranging inquiry into the issues raised by welfare reform. Although the research presented in this book demonstrates that it is possible to find jobs for people who have traditionally relied on public assistance, it also offers cautionary evidence that today's strong economy may mask underlying problems. Based on comprehensive new data, this volume offers valuable guidance to policymakers looking to design policies that will increase work, raise incomes, and lower poverty in changing economic conditions. ... Read more

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A hard-hitting and documented examination
Collaboratively edited by National Bureau of Economic Research associates David Card (Professor of Economics, University of California, Berkeley) and Rebecca M. Blank (Dean of the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy and Henry Carter Adams Collegiate Professor of Public Policy, University of Michigan), Finding Jobs: Work And Welfare Reform is a hard-hitting and documented examination of the nationally vital issue of how "welfare-to-work" transitional programs have affected both individual families and the nation at large. A carefully descriptive and scholarly assessed inquiry of the low-skill labor market in changing economic climates, including a projected climate of recession, Finding Jobs gives the good, the bad, and the ugly facts about welfare reform. Touting earned income tax credits, scrutinizing the costs of changing the welfare system, and written with the goal of finding ways to lower overall poverty, Finding Jobs is a highly recommended social and economic treatise, and essential reading for policy makers, social issue activists, and academia concerned with the American economy in general, and the impact of contemporary welfare reforms in particular. ... Read more

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This study examines in-depth the 'work first' Welfare-to-Work Grants program as it was implemented in a state that provided relatively generous subsides to low-income workers. The analysis engages in scholarly debates regarding persistent poverty, social welfare policies, and the efficacy of traditional theories of political economy. This study examines the real meaning and achievements of the shift in U.S. social policy for the poor away from the New Deal safety net and toward reliance on markets. Widely known as welfare reform, this policy change integrates caregivers (mostly women) of children living in poverty into the mainstream labor market by instituting a time limit on cash benefits and requiring paid work. The analysis contributes to scholarship by specifying the intersection of current politico-economic conditions and the lived experiences of those impacted by welfare reform. Findings speak to the legitimate authority of the neo-liberal grand narrative, the social embeddedness of both bureaucratic and market-based forms of organization, and the continuing risk of poverty despite relatively generous work supports.Although neo-liberal and liberal perspectives shaped welfare reform, insights from Weberian, cultural studies, and standpoint theories more adequately explain the complex and nuanced experience of the policy shift. ... Read more

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Welfare reform was a spectacular success in New York under Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, and surprising because of the city's history of liberal social programs and its huge, entrenched welfare system. The city reduced the number of people on welfare dramatically from 1,120,000 to 460,000. How did it achieve such success in this unlikely setting? It changed the organizational culture, insisted on _work first,_ adopted information technology, protected against fraud, and contracted for job placement. ... Read more

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The debate about replacing welfare with work neglects some important facts. Most on welfare can work. But many jobs available to them pay too little to support a family. And some on welfare have such serious problems they cannot work. Reform can be effective only if it "makes work pay"--with supplements for the lowest-wage jobs, public work for those who cannot find a job, investment in education and training for the next generation, and alternative obligations for those who cannot work. Contributing authors include "Rebecca M. Blank, Rebecca A. Maynard, Nathan Glazer, Laurie J. Bassi, Gary Burtless, Hillard Pouncy, " and "Ronald B. Mincy." ... Read more

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The issue of welfare reform has been predominant on the United States public agenda for almost three decades. Major initiatives undertaken in welfare reform since 1992 are examined in this book, with specific case studies on California, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio and Wisconsin.

Each study focuses on: factors that motivated reform; the political process that led to its adoption; the objectives sought by the reform; and an assessment of the probability that each would achieve its objective. Introductory and concluding chapters analyze national trends in welfare reform. ... Read more

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Summarizes an analysis of the effects of the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program on work activity participation rates of welfare recipients, welfare caseloads, and outcomes for welfare leavers. While the CalWORKs reforms appear to have been responsible for some of the uniform improvement in outcomes shown by the analysis, the robust economy and other policy changes were probably also important. ... Read more

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This report describes the implementation of California's Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program in its first two years. According to the CalWORKs welfare-to-work model, immediately following the approval of the aid application, nearly all recipients search for jobs in the context of Job Clubs. For those who do not find employment through job search, an intensive assessment and a sequence of activities follow, to identify and overcome barriers to employment. Implementation in most counties is proceeding more slowly than some observers had hoped, but about as fast as could realistically be expected. County welfare districts (CWDs) face the dual challenge of expanding their capacity to deal with the new, higher, steady-state workload that CalWORKs entails and handling the much larger one-time surge of old cases as they move through the system. Providing mandated support services--child care and transportation; education and training; and treatment for alcohol and substance abuse, mental health, and domestic abuse--has been a challenge for most CWDs. To cope with this expanded workload, they have made different capacity-building decisions. The slow pace of movement through the system is worrisome, however, given the five-year lifetime limit that aid recipients face. Finally, those who have found jobs often do not earn enough to move them completely off aid and toward self-sufficiency. Additional post-employment services appear to be needed.. (MP) ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Futurist's notions of the future seem to be accurate
Dr. Murray's call for a guaranteed annual income is supported by well thought out prospects of the future. He's non-dogmatic, down to earth portrayal of an economy no longer in need of the number of workers it hashad in the past, is very convincing.What really appealed to me; however,is that for the most part I came to these same conclusions 20 years ago.Murray's viewpoints are in line with the late Robert Theobald (died Nov.,1999) and Jeremy Rifkin. The difference is that Murray's book is easierunderstood for the lay person. If you want to get a completely differentview point on how welfare should be handled in this country, this bookshould be of great interest. Even if you don't agree with the author, itmakes for great discussions. ... Read more

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Declines in real wages, increases in the number of poor families, and cutbacks to welfare and other safety-net programs have stimulated the popularity of microenterprise development programs (MDPs). These programs typically offer training and loans to individuals seeking to operate very small businesses. MDPs are often presented as a path to the self-sufficiency that comes with entrepreneurship and as an example of the success of market-based alternatives to government programs.In Bootstrap Dreams, Nancy C. Jurik analyzes the origins and maturation of these programs in the United States.

Based on a national sample of fifty programs and an eight-year case study of one in particular, this is a rare book about microenterprise development. Jurik understands the positive social mission of MDPs, but she is not blind to the problems that they encounter. Jurik’s clear perception of potential difficulties and her keen ability to place the microenterprise movement in the larger context of welfare reform and globalization make Bootstrap Dreams a valuable book. ... Read more

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Valuable and informative
Jurik's book provides valuable insight and understanding for those of us interested in creating and supporting positive economic pathways for low-income women. Must read for researchers in gender studies and economic inequality, and controbutes to a broader analysis of the impact of welfare reform. ... Read more

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This volume presents a comprehensive look at how welfare reforms enacted in 1996 are affecting caseloads, employment, earnings, and family well-being in rural areas. ... Read more

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The California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program is California's response to the welfare reforms Congress set in motion in 1996. In late 1998, RAND conducted the first of three statewide surveys on CalWORKs implementation. Survey responses indicate that the counties have made significant administrative changes in welfare operations, in the structure and organization of their welfare departments and other agencies, in staffing, and in information systems. Many counties have completed planning activities and have fully operational program components. Most counties report no major implementation problems to date but anticipate problems in the future with cumulative lifetime limits and work requirements. A majority of counties agreed that environmental characteristics such as the job market, housing, and transportation have hindered implementation; interagency relationships, planning, and experience with welfare reform have facilitated it. Nearly all agree that special-needs child care and transportation are inadequate. Complete survey responses from the 58 counties are contained in a companion volume. ... Read more