Tuesday, January 7, 1997
STATE:
UCLA study reveals Gov. Pete Wilson’s ‘Work Pays’ plan was an
ineffective oneBy Brooke Olson
Daily Bruin Staff
State officials plan to scrap a four-year-old welfare reform
program after a UCLA study concluded the program had little impact
on recipients.
The "Work Pays" program reduced cash grants by 8.5 percent while
allowing welfare recipients to hold jobs without losing their
eligibility. Designed to ease people off welfare, the program was
signed into law by Gov. Pete Wilson in the fall of 1992.
But the carrot-and-stick approach failed to convince many
recipients to seek out employment, according to a study conducted
by the UCLA School of Public Policy.
Administration officials said they will scrap the program after
Wilson unveils his plan for welfare overhaul later this month.
The UCLA study was required by federal authorities, who granted
California several waivers from previous welfare law to conduct
experiments. The evaluation was funded by the California Department
of Social Services.
Headed by Rosina M. Becerra, director of the Center for Child
& Family Policy Studies, the study tracked 15,000 welfare
recipients in Alameda, Los Angeles, San Joaquin and San Bernardino
counties from January 1993 to June 1995.
About 10,000 welfare recipients were required to follow the Work
Pays program, while 5,000 were separated as a control group and
treated under previous welfare rules.
According to the report, there is no significant difference in
income, work activity or time on aid between single-parent families
in the Work Pays study group and members of the control group.
However, two-parent welfare families did show a 4 percent
improvement in work activity and income under the Work Pays
program.
In other cases, the study found that the group assigned to Work
Pays was likely to remain on assistance longer than the control
group.
State administrative officials speculated that Work Pays failed
in part because the recipients did not understand how the program
worked.
Work Pays recipients received a state brochure that had the
benefactors calculate potential benefits using an 11-step
mathematical formula. Officials believe that this formula was
simply too complicated for many of the recipients.
In California, there are 2.7 million welfare recipients,
representing 17 percent of the total welfare population in the
United States. In fiscal year 1995-96, California spent $6.5
billion on the state’s welfare program.
The average grant for a typical family of three is $594 per
month, ranking California the fourth highest welfare state
nationwide.
Wilson, who for years championed the reduction of welfare grants
to the needy as a budget-balancing tool, will outline some of his
themes for welfare overhaul today during his State of the State
address.
So far, both he and his staff have hinted that the plan will
seek broad flexibility for counties and a heavy emphasis on rapid
job placement instead of extensive training.
Additional welfare plans are expected to be announced Thursday
when the governor unveils his budget proposal for the 1997-98
fiscal year.
Welfare changes presented the biggest and most daunting issue
facing California lawmakers as they convened for the first time for
the 1997 session on Monday.
This issue was brought to the state table when Congress passed
the Personal Responsibility and Opportunity Reconciliation Act in
August 1996.
Last summer’s act includes time limits on cash benefits, work
obligations, measures to reduce teenage parenthood and the design
of welfare programs to encourage recipients to find a job.
"Welfare reform is a mega-issue with lots of facets and
complications," said Senate President Pro Tem Bill Lockyer
(D-Hayward) in an interview with the L.A. Times Monday. "I think it
is as hard a task as the Legislature has ever confronted.
"The hardest part is actually preparing people for jobs, helping
them find those jobs and keeping them in work. As we know from
numerous studies, the bulk of (welfare) recipients are not
employment-ready," Lockyer added.
Although UCLA’s report did not offer any conclusions regarding
the issue of welfare recipients being employment-ready, the study
did note that changing labor market conditions in California could
lead to increasing job opportunities.
It is important that follow-up studies be conducted in the wake
of changing market conditions in order to provide more consistent
results, the report said.