Research Update
Welfare Policy Evaluations and Impact Studies
The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Employment and Training Institute works with local
governments and schools in Milwaukee County to assess the impact of state and federal welfare
policies on families receiving AFDC/W-2. Policy papers discuss
critical issues for
integrating Milwaukee County welfare populations into the labor force and profile the
employment needs of working families with incomes below poverty and the welfare population
expected to work in this urban county.
- Socio-Economic Analysis of Issues Facing Children and Families in Milwaukee (2009)
Includes data on changes in employment, income, property values, subprime
mortgages, prison
rates, subsidized child care, and families in
poverty since the end of AFDC in Milwaukee's
poorest
neighborhood.
- Child
Care Selected by Families in the Wisconsin Shares Child Care Subsidy
Program (November 2006)
-
Addressing Barriers to Employment: Increasing Child Care Rates and the
Rate Setting Process Under the Wisconsin Shares Program (April 2002)
-
Addressing Barriers to Employment: Findings from the National Survey of
America's Families for Milwaukee County Families with Preschool Children,
1997 and 1999 (May 2002)
- Barriers to
Employment: NSAF Findings on Preschool Children, Mothers' Employment
Status and Child Care Choices (May 2002)
-
Indicators of the Employment and Economic Well-Being of Families in
Central City Milwaukee Neighborhoods (1993-2006)
-
Tracking the Progress of Welfare Reform Quickly: A Model for
Measuring Neighborhood Health and Change, a Brookings
discussion paper. (October 2001)
-
Economic Status of Milwaukee County Children in the Year 2000
(May 2001)
-
Economic Status of Milwaukee County Children in 1999 (May 2000)
-
Analysis of Food Stamp and Medical Assistance Caseload Reductions in
Milwaukee County: 1995-1999 (January 2000)
- Impact of Welfare
Reform on Child Care Subsidies in Milwaukee County: 1996-1999 (October 1999)
- State of Milwaukee's
Children in 1998: Family Income/Economic Support (May 1999)
- Removing Transportation
Barriers to Employment: Assessing Driver's License and Vehicle Ownership Patterns of Low-
Income Populations
(July 1998)
- Removing Barriers to
Employment: The Child Care-Jobs Equation
(May 1998)
- Employment and Earnings
of Milwaukee County Single Parent AFDC Families: Establishing Benchmarks for Measuring
Employment Outcomes Under "W-2"
(December 1997)
- The Employer
Perspective: Jobs Held by the Milwaukee County AFDC Single Parent Population
(December 1997)
- Project
Get Started: Phase II Report
- A collaborative study with Milwaukee Area Technical
College of the employment readiness and child care needs of 1,551 mothers
with children under age
one receiving AFDC (September 1997)
- Initial
Findings on Mobility and Employment of Public Assistance Recipients in Milwaukee County
and Factors Relating to Changes in W-2 Regions Over Time (April 1997)
- Child Care Needs of
Low-Income Employed Parents in Milwaukee County Under W-2 (July 1996)
- Financial Impact of W-2 and Related Welfare
Reform Initiatives on Milwaukee County AFDC Cases (April 1996)
- Demographics of Milwaukee County Populations Expected to
Work Under Proposed Welfare Initiatives (November 1995)
- Integrating Milwaukee County AFDC Recipients into the Local
Labor Market (November 1995)
- Concentration
of Children in Poverty in Milwaukee
County Neighborhoods (November 1995)
- The Labor Market Experience of Young African American Men from Low-Income Families in Wisconsin (November 1992)
History of Work Programs for Families on Relief
Welfare Evaluations for the Wisconsin Legislature
The Employment and Training Institute was selected by the
State of Wisconsin to evaluate two major welfare reform programs initiated in the late 1980s
when Wisconsin showed major drops in AFDC (Aid to Families with Dependent Children)
caseloads. These experiments included:
- A Community Work Experience Program (CWEP) to test the effectiveness of
mandatory workfare programs and a comprehensive Work Experience and Job Training program
(WEJT) including remedial education, job search, subsidized employment, job training, day care
and supportive services, following by mandatory work.
- A Learnfare policy which reduced AFDC
grants for
families of teenagers not attending school regularly.
The welfare employment program evaluation utilized experimental and quasi-experimental
designs to measure changes in family earnings and AFDC caseloads in 31 Wisconsin counties
initiating new programs. The Learnfare evaluation utilized school attendance records on over
50,000 teenagers to measure the impact of Learnfare in six school districts, including
Milwaukee.
FULL REPORTS are available for 4 of the evaluation reports to
the Wisconsin Legislature, as
scanned documents (in PDF):
The following SUMMARIES are also available:
Graphs of Caseload Trends and Unemployment Rates: 1986-1998
The Employment and Training Institute has prepared
graphs of AFDC/W-2
caseloads and unemployment rates by County
for the period from July 1986 through December 1998
when Wisconsin implemented its welfare reform initiatives. The graphs
show the
monthly unemployment rates and AFDC (and "W-2"TANF support) caseloads
for
each of Wisconsin's 72 counties. The Employment and Training
Institute evaluations of Wisconsin welfare reform efforts during the
period from 1987-1991 showed the strong impact of a rapidly improving
labor market, which accounted for most of the caseload reduction during
the 1986-1991 period. Additional months of data are presented for the
period 1991-1998, but statistical testing has not been conducted for
this most recent period.
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