How are Children Affected by Welfare Programs That Aim to Move Their Parents into Work?

How are children affected by welfare programs that aim to move their parents — mostly single mothers — into work? Our overarching finding is that in many but not all cases, children were affected when their mothers participated in welfare and employment programs. But what is most interesting is that the effects are very different depending on the type of welfare program and on the age of the child.

Elementary school-age children — who were between the ages of 2 and 9 when the studies started — were consistently helped by only one program type: those that provided an earnings supplement and raised family income when parents worked.

Each of the four bars on this chart represents a different program that we studied, and all four had positive effects on children’s school achievement. In general, the size of these effects was comparable to raising these children from the 25th to the 30th percentile on a standardized test score. This may not seem large, but it does show that increasing income when single moms go to work can actually help low-income children do better in school in the early elementary years. Click on the For More Information link below for a seven minute video explaining the findings for other types of programs and children of other ages.

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