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Making 'Welfare to Work' Really Work
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Work Structure and Benefits
As noted earlier in this report, a woman who is the head of household needs a college degree to earn a living family wage that approaches that of a man
with a high school diploma. That is, many women are poor because they are women. It is no surprise welfare mothers have more options at the lower levels of
the labor market than the middle or higher levels. Welfare mothers most often take jobs as child care providers, waitresses, cleaners, orderlies, attendants,
and so forth. These kinds of jobs tend to be part-time and low paying; to offer little or no paid sick leave, health insurance, or other benefits; and to
require "nontraditional" work hours, making child care difficult to obtain and variable in quality (Piotrkowski & Kessler-Sklar, 1996). Depending on the size
of the employer, federal requirements (e.g., family medical leave) may differ or not apply. Women often take part-time jobs because they offer greater
flexibility in some cases, but the trade-offs in wages and other benefits are great.
Welfare reform imposes additional limitations on poor women, often requiring them to accept the first available job, regardless of wages, benefits, or
flexibility and "family friendliness." Women who are forced into jobs with low wages and few or no family-friendly benefits and policies (e.g., health
insurance, paid leave, flexible work hours, and help finding and paying for good child care) may not be able to hold onto those jobs and thus are likely to
return to welfare (Piotrkowski & Kessler-Sklar, 1996). In a qualitative study of welfare recipients, illness or injury (of oneself or of a family member) or
inadequate child care were found to result in loss of a job and a return to welfare with remarkable speed (Oliker 1995). If the goal is sustained economic
self-sufficiency, welfare reform programs must make sure that mother-only families get (1) adequate wages and (2) the minimum family benefits (Piotrkowski &
Kessler-Sklar, 1996). Minimum benefits include health insurance, paid sick leave, paid family leave, flexible work schedules, and assistance in finding and
paying for quality child care. Unfortunately, research suggests that poor mothers have limited access to such family-supportive workplace benefits (Hagen &
Davis, 1994; Kerlin, 1993; Oliker, 1995; Piotrkowski & Kessler-Sklar, 1996).
Recommendations
- States should design welfare reform programs and job placement programs to ensure that jobs available to welfare recipients provide minimum
family-friendly and supportive benefits, health insurance, paid sick leave. Caseworkers should also strive to make available jobs that provide family leave
benefits, flexible work schedules, and assistance in finding and paying for good child care.
- Jobs need to pay better than welfare. Rather than focusing on welfare time limits, policy action at the state and federal levels must address
reforming the low-wage labor market by raising wages and increasing the ability of low-wage workers to join unions and bargain collectively.
- States should design welfare reform programs and job placement programs that ensure that jobs available to welfare recipients pay adequate wages,
that is, wages that will support mothers and their children.
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