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Subgroups
In Chicago, evaluators identified newly employed welfare recipients who had been referred to or participated in the Job Opportunities and Basic Skills Training (JOBS) work promotion program between March 1994 and December 1995. The research team randomly assigned people to either the Post-Employment Services Demonstration (PESD) group or to a comparison group. Among the 1,545 newly employed welfare recipients identified, 552 (35.7 percent) were randomly assigned to the intervention group. Researchers attempted to collect administrative records for every person in the study; about one year after random assignment, researchers selected a random subsample of 428 newly employed welfare recipients (who enrolled in the demonstration between July 1994 and August 1995) for a follow-up survey.
Individuals were randomly assigned from March 1994 to December 1995 and were followed for two years thereafter.
The Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation in ACF at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services funded the study.
On average, sample members were 29 years old. Most sample members were female (98 percent) and, on average, their households included two children, the youngest of whom was nearly 5 years old. At the time of random assignment, about 40 percent of sample members had not completed high school or obtained a GED. Three-quarters of sample members were required to participate in the JOBS program. About 80 percent received Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) all of the year before random assignment. One-quarter reported receiving welfare most of the time while growing up.
Illinois AFDC/TANF agency
The program was a demonstration program implemented for the first time during the evaluation.
Between spring 1994 and fall 1996, Illinois received waivers for its AFDC program and JOBS rules to provide additional case management services and financial support to newly employed welfare recipients. PESD case managers provided people enrolled in PESD with counseling and support, job search assistance, help with benefits, and service referrals tailored to the needs of individual recipients. The program also increased the amount of financial support available to newly employed welfare recipients for initial employment expenses and expanded the range of eligible expenses.
Sample members in the comparison group received the regular services available to employed AFDC welfare recipients in Illinois. In Illinois, the state disregarded two-thirds of clients’ earnings in calculating welfare eligibility, indefinitely; AFDC clients who earned $5 per hour and worked 30 hours per week received $150 per month in AFDC benefits. People in the comparison group could receive assistance with initial employment expenses (up to $400) if they requested it within the first 30 days of employment.
The majority of participants were required to participate in JOBS to receive benefits.
The program expected to maintain contact with all clients during the first few months after they became employed, then expected the need for contact to decline. Case managers still had contact with about half of intervention group members one year after they became employed.
ACF, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Chicago, IL
The study reports employment, earnings, and public benefit receipt outcomes for other months and quarters that are not the focus of this review.