Lessons for Welfare Reform: An Analysis of the AFDC Caseload and Past Welfare-to-Work Programs Lessons for Welfare Reform: An Analysis of the AFDC Caseload and Past Welfare-to-Work Programs
Dave M. O'Neill and June Ellenoff O'Neill
First Chapter | Table of Contents

134 pp. 1997
$40.00 cloth 978-0-88099-180-3
$13.00 paper 978-0-88099-179-7

As a result of welfare reforms enacted in 1996, a 60-month lifetime limit for welfare benefits is in place, as is a work requirement after two years on the rolls. Furthermore, states have assumed greater autonomy over welfare spending and have become responsible for new programs to replace the now-defunct Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC)—for six decades the nation's principal cash assistance welfare program—and its accompanying education, work and training programs.

Dave M. O'Neill and June Ellenoff O'Neill compile and analyze data that identifies historical trends in the AFDC caseload, the personal characteristics of recipients, and broad patterns of welfare participation. They also offer an evaluative survey on the effectiveness of past education, training and workfare programs in reducing the AFDC caseload.

The result is a book that offers thoughtful analyses on several crucial questions facing state policy makers as a result of welfare reform including:
  • How many recipients can be expected to reach the five-year limit imposed by the new legislation?
  • What are the personal characteristics and labor-market options of those who reach this limit?
  • How helpful are work/training programs in reducing welfare dependency?
  • How will current and potential recipients react to a reduction in the financial benefits available from welfare? and
  • Will teenage out-of-wedlock childbearing fall in unison with the incidence of welfare participation among young women?