ANN ARBOR—Despite the proclaimed success of national welfare reform, a large percentage of current and former welfare recipients—even those who gain a lot of work experience—continue to rely on government assistance, say University of Michigan researchers.

In a new study to appear in the summer issue of the Journal of Consumer Affairs, researchers at the U-M School of Social Work found that more than a third of single mothers who had been welfare recipients in
Overall, 51 percent of the study’s total respondents—both those who had worked and those who had not worked during that time—were still poor, they say.

“When President Clinton first proposed welfare reform, he spoke both of ‘making work pay’ and of ‘ending welfare as we know it,'” says Sandra K. Danziger, U-M associate professor of social work and director of the U-M Program on Poverty and Social Welfare Policy. “The welfare reform law certainly ended welfare as we knew it and the expansion of the earned income tax credit and other policy changes have helped make work pay more than welfare. But much remains to be done if we are to strengthen the post-welfare reform safety net and alleviate continuing hardships.”

In fall 1998, Danziger and U-M colleagues Mary E. Corcoran, Sheldon H. Danziger and Colleen M. Heflin interviewed a random sample of 692 single mothers who had been welfare recipients in an urban county in Michigan in
The researchers found that about a fifth of the women had worked in every month between
About 40 percent of the women who worked in most or all of these months still received cash welfare benefits in fall 1998 to help make ends meet, the researchers say.

Further, among the women who worked in every month, two-thirds received food stamps, a fifth reported at least two experiences of material hardship (such as a lack of health insurance or inadequate amounts of food), a quarter engaged in “activities of last resort” (such as pawning or selling possessions or seeking charity) and more than half reported difficulty living on their income.

“Overall, the respondents (in the study) are making the transition from welfare to work, but they continue to rely on government income supplements and subsidized access to medical care and child care,” Sandra Danziger says. “Working, alone, does not guarantee self-sufficiency. Most of the women who worked in every month and received welfare or food stamps were working part time and/or at a low wage rate.”

Regardless, poverty rates fell as the frequency of work increased, the study shows. Less than 40 percent of women who worked most or all of the time throughout the sample period lived in poverty, compared with 61 percent for those who worked some of the time and 85 percent for those who never worked.

While the women in the study who worked more often reported higher levels of financial and subjective well-being, surprisingly, they were more likely to go without health insurance.

“Lack of health insurance is highest among those who have worked in every month,” Sandra Danziger says. “Twenty percent are not covered and 9 percent do not have coverage for their children. This suggests that lack of access to health insurance remains a serious problem for recipients in the process of leaving welfare for work.

“Overall, the extent of material hardship and financial strain that we found, even among women who worked in every month in the sample period, demonstrates that declining welfare caseloads do not automatically translate into improved well-being. Working is associated with reductions in, but not elimination of, economic vulnerability and material hardships.”

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Journal of Consumer AffairsSandra K. DanzigerMary E. Corcoran