Welfare Leavers Research Articles

Before and After TANF: The Economic Well‐Being of Women Leaving Welfare

We use administrative data from Wisconsin to compare employment, earnings, and income outcomes for welfare leavers under early reforms and under the later, more stringent Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. We find substantially higher rates of exit in the later period. Later leavers are somewhat more likely to work, but their earnings are lower. We also make a pre‐post comparison of individual employment and income experiences, examining a leaver’s outcomes during a calendar quarter of welfare receipt with these outcomes a year after leaving welfare. On average, substantial earnings growth is outweighed by declines in benefits, resulting in reduced total measured net income.

Welfare Leavers' Use of Medicaid Transitional Medical Assistance in California, 1993–1997

Using administrative and survey data, we estimate participation rates in Transitional Medical Assistance (TMA) for the period 1993-97 by California welfare leavers during their first six months post-welfare. We find that although many welfare leavers were eligible for TMA (35% to 47% of exiters), only 26% of eligible people were enrolled in the TMA program. Another 14% were covered by non-TMA Medicaid for the entire six months. Most TMA-eligible exiters had Medicaid coverage (all of it non-TMA) for less than six months (49%) or no Medicaid coverage at all (11%). Supplementary analyses using data from the National Survey of America's Families indicate that if fully implemented, TMA could have substantially reduced uninsurance among welfare leavers.

Do welfare caseload declines make the Medicaid risk pool sicker?

Declining welfare caseloads may lead to a sicker population remaining in the Medicaid program, which could increase per enrollee costs and the level of adequate capitation rates. Using data from the 1997 National Survey of America's Families for adults and children, we examine differences in health status and utilization among welfare recipients and welfare leavers who did and did not retain Medicaid. We adjust utilization differences for insurance status and factors often used to adjust capitation rates. We conclude that declining welfare caseloads likely will result in a sicker and more expensive adult Medicaid risk pool.

Patterns of recidivism for welfare leavers

AbstractUsing administrative and survey data from Georgia, this chapter examines the risk factors for recidivism among welfare leavers and the relationship between recidivism and leavers' ability to find sustained employment.

Acknowledging different needs: Developing a taxonomy of welfare leavers

AbstractThis chapter uses cluster analysis to distinguish three groups of leavers of Temporary Assistance to Needy Families in terms of their self‐reported well‐being after exit, verifies these clusters, and then uses classification tree analysis to isolate some of the factors that may be responsible for these differences in post‐exit outcomes.

Understanding self‐sufficiency of welfare leavers in Illinois: Elaborating models with psychosocial factors

AbstractWith an interest in supporting the existing social capacities of leavers of Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), this chapter incorporates psychosocial factors into a structural equation model that includes the outcomes of post‐exit employment and TANF recidivism.

Achievement and Behavior Among Children of Welfare Recipients, Welfare Leavers, and Low‐Income Single Mothers

This article examines the behavior and achievement of children infemale‐headed families that were on welfare, that left welfare, and that were not on welfare in the3 years preceding the study. Data come from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics Child Development Supplement, a nationally representative sample of children under age 13 collected in 1997. The results suggest that there are both positive and negative outcomes of welfare transitions. Based upon our results, children whose mothers are able to leave and remain off welfare score consistently better on cognitive tests of their development. The transition period, however, is a difficult one. Children's emotional well‐being may suffer during the parental transition from cash assistance to self‐sufficiency.