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Objective and Background: Previous research shows the benefits of formal child support to children during their childhood; however, the long‐term effect of child support receipt on outcomes as adults has not been studied. This inquiry examines whether adults who received formal child support as children have different labor market outcomes than those who did not. Method: We conducted two sets of analyses with complementary strengths to examine young adults' earnings and employment status. Our primary method exploited experimental variation in child support receipt among welfare participants, as part of the Wisconsin Child Support Demonstration Evaluation; the secondary analyses used propensity score matching to construct statistically equivalent comparison groups drawn from a broader population included in Wisconsin Court Record Data. Results: Across both studies, we found the receipt of child support was associated with a substantive and statistically significant increase in adult earnings; results for employment status were mixed. Conclusion: Findings suggest that formal child support may disrupt patterns of intergenerational disadvantage, reducing the economic vulnerability of children living with resident mothers, and then improving those children's earnings as adults. In addition to contributing to our understanding of the relationship between childhood economic status and adult outcomes, the findings provide critical new information to policymakers assessing family policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This article uses data on all persons who ever received Social Assistance (SA) in Sweden 1991–2007 (N =2,638,681 observations; 882,416 individuals) to study whether there is duration dependence in SA, i.e., whether the probability to remain in SA increases over the individual duration of SA recipiency. The risk of remaining in SA is higher at longer durations, but around half of this risk difference is caused by selection (those with favourable characteristics exit first, while those with higher likelihood of SA remain). This is captured by control variables and by conditioning on SA sequences as a method to control for unobserved heterogeneity. The probability to remain in SA increases with 2–5 percentage points per year during the first five calendar years, implying that duration dependence is substantively but not dramatically important: Nearly 8% stay in SA the fifth year after entry, but only 4% would do so in the absence of duration dependence. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In the wake of welfare reform, many poor people have exhausted their benefits and must now live with less government support. While all of these former welfare recipients are struggling, some are experiencing housing problems that are quite severe. This article uses survey data on former welfare recipients who have used up the maximum time limits for receiving welfare to better understand three core explanations for rural housing problems among the poor: community, individual, and family factors. We estimate models to weigh the relative effects of these factors on the likelihood of experiencing several housing outcomes, finding that rural location is the most consistent predictor of housing outcomes, predicting home ownership, and whether families reside in low-quality housing. We also find that individual and family factors affect the type of housing one has. We conclude that housing policies must be tailored to improve specific housing outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the extent to which employment outcomes for welfare leavers differ depending on TANF policies adopted by states. Data on welfare leavers come from the 1996 panel of the Survey of Income and Program Participation. Policies in the leavers' states of residence are characterized by factor scores. Results suggest that employment and job quality outcomes for welfare leavers are associated with several aspects of states' TANF rules. For example, the stringency of work requirements is positively related to employment among later welfare leavers, but neither the leniency nor stringency of work requirements is related to employment among early welfare leavers. Lenient work requirements are found to increase the probability that welfare leavers' first jobs off welfare carry employer-provided health insurance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A cross-sectional survey design is used to explore the determinants of unemployment and economic hardship among former welfare recipients who have reached their 5-year lifetime limits in a sample of 276 former WV WORKS recipients in West Virginia. The findings of the study indicate that respondents with mental problems; physical disabilities; or without a high school diploma, child care, or transportation were more likely than others to be unemployed. In addition, either mental health problems or a lack of transportation were significantly associated with the economic hardships of the welfare leavers. Policy implications suggest that the lifetime-limit policy be exempted for those with mental problems or physical disabilities, or extended for those who have children under age 2 and comply with mandatory work requirements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research used data concerning recipients' employment, receipt of Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), receipt of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), and poverty status to develop a typology of adaptations by welfare recipients Using U.S. Deportment of Labor survey data, a sample of AFDC/TANF recipients was analyzed through event history analysis. The results show that welfare reforms launched in 1996 moved dependent recipients out of welfare but had no effect on working recipients' chances of leaving welfare. New two-year limits on unbroken program participation (and a five-year lifetime limit) pushed many unprepared recipients into poverty, working or not. Economic conditions become worse for working poor people than for those on welfare. The study also found that some former welfare recipients did go to work and eventually leave welfare and poverty. Occupational skills, work experience, child support, marriage, and experience in dependency or supplementation were among the factors promoting such a change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the impact of transportation, child care and illness on the ability of former welfare recipients to secure employment and to maintain employment in the U.S. Barriers to employment; Relationship between the barrier to work and the work experience of welfare leavers; Probabilities of getting and keeping a job.

In Belgium, welfare agencies receive a subsidy to employ welfare recipients for a period sufficiently long to entitle them to unemployment benefits. We investigate the effect of this programme on the exit rate from welfare. We propose a grouping/IV estimator of the programme effect that eliminates selection bias. The estimator is consistent, even if the selection into the programme depends on the average unobserved characteristics of welfare recipients in a region and in a welfare duration interval. Without correction for selectivity we find that the programme reduces welfare dependence, but after correction this conclusion is reversed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]