Friday, February 27, 2009
Tweet[IWS] MDRC: WELFARE-TO-WORK PROGRAM BENEFITS & COSTS: A SYNTHESIS OF RESEARCH [February 2009]
IWS Documented News Service
_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies----------------- Professor Samuel B. Bacharach
School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor---------------------- Stuart Basefsky
New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau
________________________________________________________________________
MDRC
Welfare-to-Work Program Benefits and Costs: A Synthesis of Research [February 2009]
David Greenberg, Victoria Deitch, and Gayle Hamilton
http://www.mdrc.org/publications/511/full.pdf
[full-text, 145 pages]
Executive Summary
http://www.mdrc.org/publications/511/execsum.pdf
[full-text, 20 pages]
Overview
http://www.mdrc.org/publications/511/overview.html
[excerpt]
Over the past two decades, federal and state policymakers have dramatically reshaped the nation's system of cash welfare assistance for low-income families. During this period, there has been considerable variation from state to state in approaches to welfare reform, which are often collectively referred to as "welfare-to-work programs." To help states assess various program approaches in an informed way, this report draws on an extraordinary body of evidence: results from 28 benefit-cost studies of welfare-to-work programs based on random assignment evaluation designs. The synthesis addresses such questions as: Which welfare reform program approaches result in positive payoffs on the investments made in them? Which approaches make participants better off financially? Which approaches improve the government's budgetary position? The report thus presents findings that can aid policymakers and program developers in assessing the often complex trade-offs associated with balancing the desire to ensure the poor of adequate incomes and yet encourage self-sufficiency.
Contents
Overview iii
List of Tables, Figures, and Boxes vii
Preface xi
Acknowledgments xiii
Executive Summary ES-1
Chapter
1 Introduction 1
2 Conducting Benefit-Cost Analyses of Welfare-to-Work Programs 5
MDRC's Benefit-Cost Accounting Framework 5
The Design of MDRC's Welfare-to-Work Evaluations 10
Cost and Benefit Estimation Techniques 10
3 Mandatory Work Experience Programs 17
Benefit-Cost Estimates 18
4 Mandatory Job-Search-First Programs 23
Benefit-Cost Estimates 25
5 Mandatory Education-First Programs 29
Benefit-Cost Estimates 30
6 Mandatory Mixed-Initial-Activity Programs 35
Benefit-Cost Estimates 37
7 Earnings Supplement Programs 47
Benefit-Cost Estimates 49
8 Time-Limit-Mix Programs 55
Mandates 55
Financial Incentives 56
Time Limits 57
Control Group Comparison 57
Benefit-Cost Estimates 58
9 Conclusions and Policy Implications 63
Appendix
A Descriptions of the Welfare-to-Work Programs, by Type 73
B Supplementary Tables: Selected Characteristics of Sample
Members and Detailed Benefit-Cost Analyses 83
References and Bibliography 107
______________________________
This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.
Stuart Basefsky
Director, IWS News Bureau
Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell/ILR School
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10016
Telephone: (607) 255-2703
Fax: (607) 255-9641
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu
****************************************
_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies----------------- Professor Samuel B. Bacharach
School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor---------------------- Stuart Basefsky
New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau
________________________________________________________________________
MDRC
Welfare-to-Work Program Benefits and Costs: A Synthesis of Research [February 2009]
David Greenberg, Victoria Deitch, and Gayle Hamilton
http://www.mdrc.org/publications/511/full.pdf
[full-text, 145 pages]
Executive Summary
http://www.mdrc.org/publications/511/execsum.pdf
[full-text, 20 pages]
Overview
http://www.mdrc.org/publications/511/overview.html
[excerpt]
Over the past two decades, federal and state policymakers have dramatically reshaped the nation's system of cash welfare assistance for low-income families. During this period, there has been considerable variation from state to state in approaches to welfare reform, which are often collectively referred to as "welfare-to-work programs." To help states assess various program approaches in an informed way, this report draws on an extraordinary body of evidence: results from 28 benefit-cost studies of welfare-to-work programs based on random assignment evaluation designs. The synthesis addresses such questions as: Which welfare reform program approaches result in positive payoffs on the investments made in them? Which approaches make participants better off financially? Which approaches improve the government's budgetary position? The report thus presents findings that can aid policymakers and program developers in assessing the often complex trade-offs associated with balancing the desire to ensure the poor of adequate incomes and yet encourage self-sufficiency.
Contents
Overview iii
List of Tables, Figures, and Boxes vii
Preface xi
Acknowledgments xiii
Executive Summary ES-1
Chapter
1 Introduction 1
2 Conducting Benefit-Cost Analyses of Welfare-to-Work Programs 5
MDRC's Benefit-Cost Accounting Framework 5
The Design of MDRC's Welfare-to-Work Evaluations 10
Cost and Benefit Estimation Techniques 10
3 Mandatory Work Experience Programs 17
Benefit-Cost Estimates 18
4 Mandatory Job-Search-First Programs 23
Benefit-Cost Estimates 25
5 Mandatory Education-First Programs 29
Benefit-Cost Estimates 30
6 Mandatory Mixed-Initial-Activity Programs 35
Benefit-Cost Estimates 37
7 Earnings Supplement Programs 47
Benefit-Cost Estimates 49
8 Time-Limit-Mix Programs 55
Mandates 55
Financial Incentives 56
Time Limits 57
Control Group Comparison 57
Benefit-Cost Estimates 58
9 Conclusions and Policy Implications 63
Appendix
A Descriptions of the Welfare-to-Work Programs, by Type 73
B Supplementary Tables: Selected Characteristics of Sample
Members and Detailed Benefit-Cost Analyses 83
References and Bibliography 107
______________________________
This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.
Stuart Basefsky
Director, IWS News Bureau
Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell/ILR School
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10016
Telephone: (607) 255-2703
Fax: (607) 255-9641
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu
****************************************
# posted by SBasefsky : 11:05 AM
