AS
CONGRESS CONSIDERS REAUTHORIZATION, ACTUAL SUCCESS
OF WELFARE REFORM ACT REMAINS UNCLEAR, BARNARD
PROFESSOR ARGUES, WARNS LAW MAY HARM RECIPIENTS
IN NYC IN WAKE OF SEPTEMBER 11
New
York, N.Y., February 28, 2002— Claims of
victory in welfare reform are premature according
to Barnard College Professor Demetrios James
Caraley. While politicians have benefited from
the shrinkage in the welfare rolls, he says
that many former recipients may actually be
in worsened financial situations.
In addition, cuts to the number of people receiving
cash assistance may create major problems for
cities like New York. With a growing number
of people on assistance who are unable to work
because of health or other limitations, the
city faces a potential crisis. When these people
reach the time limits for assistance, they will
fall even deeper into poverty, a circumstance
exacerbated by the loss of jobs after September
11 and reflected in the growing number of the
city’s homeless, Caraley says.
In the article in the Winter 2001-2002 issue
of Political Science Quarterly, "Ending
Welfare As We Know It: A Reform Still in Progress,"
Caraley addresses the Personal Responsibility
& Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA)
of 1996, which ended Aid to Families with Dependent
Children and capped a recipient’s lifetime
cash assistance at five years.
Since PRWORA’s passage, there has been
a 40 percent drop (from 12.6 to 7.2 million
recipients) in the average monthly number of
people receiving cash assistance, which some
legislators say is proof that the reform is
a success.
But it is unclear how many people have left
welfare only to attain low-paying jobs without
benefits, he argues. Shrinking the rolls does
not equal success, he argues; rather, that depends
on whether the drop "represents actual
gains in financial independence through the
acquisition of good jobs."
He also points out that the number of women-headed
families with children on the rolls has dropped
only 20 percent, from 12.6 million to 10.1 million,
over the same time period.
Rather than assuming all those off the rolls
are now gainfully employed, Caraley points to
three distinct outcomes for former welfare recipients:
some people were "jolted out of their laziness
and got normal employment"; others attained
low-paying, low-skill jobs and temporarily left
welfare but are likely to return to it because
they will be unable to support themselves; and
others have not been able to find and maintain
jobs, so they are now in deeper poverty.
To combat these problems, Caraley suggests a
variety of reforms including increased childcare
funding, mandatory job training and job retention
training, and reforming the ways in which time
limits are handled in different states. For
example, in 2001 he notes, Connecticut began
counting even a single day on cash assistance
as equal to one month toward an individual’s
time limit.
While the truly needy and disabled welfare recipients
may be suffering under the reforms, Caraley
points out that politicians have been clear
winners. Clinton was able to claim bipartisan
policy success and to "take credit for
the widely popular reform of an almost universally
unpopular program." Governors also received
$16.5 billion in block grants which they are
able to spend largely at their own discretion.
Though it is frowned on by Congress, many governors
have used funds to pay for existing state programs,
thereby freeing parts of the budget for tax
cuts and other uses popular with voters.
Caraley is Professor of Political Science and
the Janet H. Robb Professor of Social Sciences
at Barnard College in New York City, an independent
college for women affiliated with Columbia University.
His research focuses on urban policy-making
and government, congress, democratic political
theory, and policy analysis. Caraley holds a
B.A. and Ph.D. from Columbia University. His
recent publications include: Critical Issues
for Clinton's Domestic Agenda, Doing
More With Less: Cutback Management in New York
City, and City Governments and Urban
Problems.
Contact:
Laura Whitlock ’03, Office of Public Affairs,
lw251@barnard.edu
Demetrios James Caraley, Dept. of Political
Science, dc121@columbia.edu,
212-854-2158
.jpg)
