Principal Findings

		The Completed State Experiments Have Tested Only Some of the Proposed Welfare Reforms

The welfare-to-work experiments we reviewed tested many of the provisions in welfare reform proposals (including H.R. 4), such as conducting some form of work program that may provide support services such as child care and requiring adult AFDC recipients to participate in that work program and to cooperate with child support enforcement. Combining a Broad Range of Employment-Related Services and Supports Yielded the Best, Though Modest, Results

The most successful welfare-to-work programs—those with the largest and most consistent effects—offered participants an expanded mix of education, training, and employment services; increased child care assistance; and mandated some form of client participation. However, after 3 years only one fourth of its participants had achieved self-sufficiency by being both employed and off welfare. New York’s program successfully increased employment and earnings but did not reduce welfare receipt. Similarly, Alabama’s Avenues to Self-Sufficiency through Employment and Training Services (ASSETS) program increased work incentives and strengthened its work registration and child support cooperation requirements. This program has had no significant effects on welfare receipt or average payment so far, although the evaluation is not yet complete. For example, imposing a strict limit on the length of time a family can receive benefits might influence participants’ work behavior. Although federal funds for AFDC benefits have not been capped before, the states have limited the funds available for their work programs. On the first point, we agree that some features of the proposed reforms have not been tested, but we believe that the states’ experiences with the program features that would be included under some of the current proposals, as well as with other features that might be discouraged, are relevant to consideration of these reforms. The first step entailed locating state welfare-to-work experiments and screening them to identify rigorous evaluation studies with reliable results in terms of the intended outcomes. GAO Comments

1. 2. 3. 5. 6. 7. 8. 1. From Welfare to Work.
Why GAO Did This Study

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the evaluations of numerous state welfare-to-work experiments completed since 1988, focusing on: (1) how these experiments resemble current welfare reforms; and (2) the approaches that have been effective in increasing employment and earnings or reducing benefits among welfare clients.

What GAO Found

GAO found that: (1) state welfare-to-work experiments and current federal welfare reform proposals both include work programs for welfare recipients, stricter requirements for participation in work programs and child support enforcement, and increasing work incentives; (2) states are testing proposals, such as limiting the length of time a family can receive benefits, but their evaluations are not yet complete; (3) some states have evaluated features of welfare-to-work programs, such as providing a broad mix of employment services, that go beyond some of the current proposals; (4) although the states' experiences provide information regarding some current reform features, it is not possible to project the likely effects of the entire package of reform proposals; (5) the programs that consistently showed the best employment and welfare-related outcomes for participants combined many employment-related activities and support services with some form of participation mandate and had adequate funding to serve their clients; (6) it has been difficult to move welfare recipients to self-supporting employment; (7) only one fourth of participants were self-sufficient in being both employed and off welfare after 3 years in welfare-to-work programs; and (8) the approach of increasing both work incentives and access to employment has had mixed results among states that have attempted such actions.