Single Parents' Subjective Wellbeing over the Welfare to Work Transition

2012 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 143-155 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kay E. Cook
Keyword(s):  
Subjective Wellbeing ◽  
Single Parents ◽  
Work Hours ◽  
Welfare Recipients ◽  
Psychological Resources ◽  
Welfare To Work ◽  
Successful Work ◽  
Work Transition ◽  
Barriers To Employment

The Australian government purports that employment will improve welfare recipients' wellbeing. However, longitudinal analysis of the subjective wellbeing (SWB) of 135 single parents who were compelled to make the transition from welfare to work revealed that as work hours increased, subjective wellbeing did not improve, and in some cases worsened. Participants who were employed at baseline increased their work hours by an average of 4.75 hours per week; however no change was detected in their SWB. Conversely, participants who moved from not working at baseline to working at follow-up increased their work hours by an average of 15.84 hours per week. For these participants, the change in work hours negatively predicted 20–34 per cent of the variance in SWB. From these data, it is concluded that those parents who were already working were those who faced fewer barriers to employment compared to those who were compelled to work. Those who were previously unemployed may not have the material, social and psychological resources to make a successful work transition.

scholarly journals Measuring the Role of Transportation in Facilitating Welfare-to-Work Transition: Evidence from Three California Counties

2003 ◽  
Vol 1859 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evelyn Blumenberg ◽  
Daniel Hess Hess
Keyword(s):  
Central City ◽  
Welfare Recipients ◽  
Urban Structure ◽  
Welfare To Work ◽  
Spatial Mismatch ◽  
Physical Separation ◽  
Job Opportunities ◽  
Work Transition ◽  
Using Data

Welfare-to-Work transportation programs are premised on a conceptualization of the spatial mismatch hypothesis that focuses on the physical separation between the central city locations of welfare participants, rapidly expanding job opportunities in the suburbs, and the long commutes needed to connect them. Using data from three diverse California counties, welfare recipients’ spatial access to employment was examined. The results indicate that the traditional notion of the spatial mismatch is less relevant to welfare recipients, many of whom live in counties in which the urban structure does not fit the simple model of poor, central-city neighborhoods and distant, job-rich suburbs. Many welfare recipients live in job-rich areas; others live in neighborhoods that are spatially isolated from employment. Therefore, to be effective, transportation policies must be tailored to the diverse characteristics of the neighborhoods in which welfare recipients live.

Barriers to Employment and the ‘Hard to Serve’: Implications for Services, Sanctions, and Time Limits

2003 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 151-160 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra K. Danziger ◽  
Kristin S. Seefeldt
Keyword(s):  
Welfare Recipients ◽  
Welfare To Work ◽  
Personal Problems ◽  
Time Limits ◽  
Skill Deficits ◽  
Barriers To Employment ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Temporary Assistance

Falling welfare rolls in the US has focussed attention on those remaining on the caseload, variously termed the ‘hard to serve’ or ‘difficult to employ’. Using data from the first three years of the Women's Employment Study, a sample of TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) recipients drawn in an urban county in Michigan, this article examines the barriers that inhibit people moving off welfare. The analysis indicates that the kinds of skill deficits and other personal problems experienced by welfare recipients are not frequently and systematically addressed within the rapid-employment, welfare to work models widely implemented across the USA.

Social and Temporal Comparisons as Moderators of Psychological Resources Associations With Wellbeing

2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 96-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hasida Ben-Zur
Keyword(s):  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
Positive Affect ◽  
Subjective Wellbeing ◽  
Social Comparisons ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Psychological Resources ◽  
Low Levels ◽  
Age Range ◽  
General Wellbeing

Abstract. The current study investigated the associations of psychological resources, social comparisons, and temporal comparisons with general wellbeing. The sample included 142 community participants (47.9% men; age range 23–83 years), who compared themselves with others, and with their younger selves, on eight dimensions (e.g., physical health, resilience). They also completed questionnaires assessing psychological resources of mastery and self-esteem, and three components of subjective wellbeing: life satisfaction and negative and positive affect. The main results showed that high levels of psychological resources contributed to wellbeing, with self-enhancing social and temporal comparisons moderating the effects of resources on certain wellbeing components. Specifically, under low levels of mastery or self-esteem self-enhancing social or temporal comparisons were related to either higher life satisfaction or positive affect. The results highlight the role of resources and comparisons in promoting people’s wellbeing, and suggest that self-enhancing comparisons function as cognitive coping mechanisms when psychological resources are low.

Getting to Work and Other Places the Poor Have to Go

2000 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 10-13
Author(s):  
Beverly Ward ◽  
Rosemary Mathias
Keyword(s):  
Public Transportation ◽  
State Level ◽  
Work Force ◽  
Welfare Recipients ◽  
Welfare To Work ◽  
Major Barrier ◽  
Job Opportunities ◽  
Board Of Regents ◽  
Care Training ◽  
Transportation Research

Lack of reliable transportation is a major barrier to linking current welfare recipients with job opportunities. Both private vehicles and public transportation play key roles in accessing jobs. Local investments in public transportation vary significantly from area to area, resulting in disparities of what level of investment is required to ensure that adequate transportation is available for those who need it. Even in communities well-served by public transportation, current services may be inadequate for providing transportation for former welfare recipients joining the work force, especially when work transportation is linked to the need to access child care, training, education, and other services. Based on extensive work carried out by anthropologists at the USF Center for Urban Transportation Research, this presentation covers two main issues: (1) an overview of the Florida WAGES program and of efforts pertaining to welfare to work and access to jobs in other states; (2) the extent to which WAGES and public transportation programs are integrated and coordinated at the local and state level in Florida. The research was funded from the Center's base operating funds provided by the Florida Board of Regents.

scholarly journals Applying Regression Discontinuity Design to Social Policy: An Evaluation of the Welfare-to-Work Program in South Korea

2016 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-29
Author(s):  
Lee Seog-min ◽  
Kwon Huck-ju
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Regression Discontinuity ◽  
Minimum Cost ◽  
Security System ◽  
Welfare Recipients ◽  
Regression Discontinuity Design ◽  
Welfare To Work ◽  
Cost Of Living ◽  
Livelihood Security ◽  
Work Program

Social policy studies focusing on poverty reduction attempt to measure poverty reductions rates and poverty gaps, but they do not provide criteria to determine whether a given social policy is a success or failure. In this study, we suggest using regression discontinuity design to establish evaluation criteria and validate estimation results in social programs. Using the dataset from the Korean Welfare Panel, first we conduct, first, a difference-in-differences comparison between welfare recipients under the National Basic Livelihood Security system and nonrecipients whose income falls under the minimum cost of living. Secondly, we establish the counterfactual effects of the program among nonrecipients whose income is below the minimum cost of living and among nonrecipients whose income is above the minimum cost of living. Last, we analyze treatment effects by comparing welfare recipients with income below the minimum cost of living and nonrecipients with income above the minimum cost of living using the regression distribution design method. We argue that the National Basic Livelihood Security system as a welfare-to-work program has positive effects on labor market participation, which has not been established by previous studies.

Understanding a Work-Family Fit for Single Parents Moving from Welfare to Work

Social Work ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 313-324 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. DeBord ◽  
R. F. Canu ◽  
J. Kerpelman
Keyword(s):  
Single Parents ◽  
Welfare To Work ◽  
Work Family

scholarly journals Anti-Poverty Policy for Families in the Next Century: From Welfare to Work—and Worries

2000 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 187-198 ◽  
Author(s):  
David T Ellwood
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Single Mothers ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Single Parents ◽  
Work Incentives ◽  
Welfare To Work ◽  
Working Families

This paper reveals that recent changes in social policy have included both sharp cutbacks in welfare for non-working families and dramatic increases in supports for low income working families. It explores the reasons for these changes, and documents how they have radically changed work incentives for some persons, notable single mothers. The result has been a large increase in work by low wage single parents. The paper concludes by examining several potential dangers of this new direction and explores the challenges that remain for the next century.

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