What Works in Welfare Reform: Research Results: Income and Hardship

	What Works in Welfare Reform Evidence and Lessons to Guide TANF Reauthorization
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TANF Guide>Research Results>Income and Hardship summary


	Suggested Readings
	Income and Hardship How Welfare and Work Policies Affect Employment and Income A Synthesis of Research Encouraging Work, Reducing Poverty The Impact of Work Incentive Programs Reforming Welfare and Rewarding Work Final Report on the Minnesota Family Investment Program Jobs First Final Report on Connecticut's Welfare Reform Initiative The Family Transition Program Final Report on Florida's Initial Time-Limited Welfare Program

INCOME AND HARDSHIP: Programs that supplemented earnings increased income; programs that relied solely on employment gains usually left income unchanged and did not change families' financial or material well-being substantially.

Programs that included provisions to supplement low earnings, usually by allowing recipients to keep some of their welfare benefits when they took jobs, increased income and reduced poverty. The programs' rules typically re-quired parents to work full time in order to receive supplement payments. More

Programs that combined mandates, earnings supplements, and time limits - as most states currently do - increased income in the period before the time limit went into effect, but the income gains disappeared once the time limit was reached and welfare support was withdrawn. More

Few effects were found on a wide range of material hardship measures in the studies of programs with time limits, suggesting that the states put in place effective protections for vulnerable families. More

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