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One of the first statewide welfare reform programs initiated under waivers of federal welfare rules
that were granted before the passage of the 1996 federal welfare reform law, Vermont's Welfare
Restructuring Project aimed to increase work and self-support among recipients of cash assistance.
Under WRP, most single-parent recipients were required to work in wage-paying jobs once they had
received welfare for 30 cumulative months (two-parent families with an able-bodied primary wage
earner face a full-time work requirement after 15 months of benefits). The program also included a
set of financial work incentives, consisting of supports for families who leave welfare for
employment, as well as changes in welfare rules intended to encourage and reward work. Updating
earlier estimates of the program's impact, an analysis of administrative records done for this
report finds that employment rates increased substantially as the work-trigger time limit was
reached and families relied more on earnings and less on cash assistance, but total household
income was unaffected.
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