Potential for Financial Self-Support among AFDC and AFDC-up Recipients

Abstract

* The research for this article was done under a Dissertation Grant from the Office of Manpower Policy, Evaluation, and Research, U. S. Department of Labor, under the authority of Title I of the Manpower Development and Training Act of 1962. Researchers undertaking such projects under government sponsorship are encouraged to express freely their professional judgment. Therefore, points of view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent the official position of the Department of Labor. The author wishes to thank Professors Christopher Green, Robert Fearn and T. D. Wallace for their helpful criticisms and comments on earlier drafts of this paper. The AFDC program has two components in 22 states. One is AFDC and it is directed largely towards female-headed families. Incapacitated males head roughly 20 per cent of the families in this category. The second component, AFDC-UP, was created in 1961 for families headed by unemployed males, who are assumed to be attached to the labor market. In the remaining states, welfare families headed by unemployed males may receive aid under a General Assistance (GA) or work relief program. As a result of the development of the AFDC-UP and work relief programs, there are few employable males now receiving GA. Because heads of AFDC and AFDC-UP families are more likely than heads of welfare families in other programs to be in a position to choose between work and assistance, attention is focused on them. tainable welfare incomes by going to work and leaving the rolls. This contention is supported by the evidence presented below. The data also indicate that the work-welfare choice should not be considered as