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Subgroups
Single parents who applied for IA in British Columbia between February 1994 and February 1995 had the opportunity to participate in the study. After participants gave consent and completed a baseline survey, evaluators randomly assigned 3,316 people to either the intervention group or the comparison group, with a 50 percent chance of assignment to each condition. All study participants were eligible to participate in follow-up surveys conducted 12, 30, 48, and 72 months after random assignment.
Random assignment for the applicant study occurred from February 1994 through March 1995. Individuals were followed for seven years.
The study was funded by a contract with Human Resources Development Canada.
More than 90 percent of sample members were female. At the time the study began, more than 95 percent reported that they had held a paid position in the past, but fewer than one-quarter had worked in the month before random assignment. More than 35 percent had less than a high school education. At the start of the study, participants had, on average, between 1 and 2 children, and had received IA for about three months in the past two years. The authors noted that the IA system in British Columbia includes people with disabilities who were not able to work. In the United States, similar recipients would be Supplemental Security Income clients, and not Temporary Assistance for Needy Families clients.
Social Research and Demonstration Corporation
Researchers designed the program for this demonstration study.
The SSP offered financial incentives to work by providing an earnings supplement to eligible IA applicants in British Columbia. Single parents who started a new IA spell and who were randomly assigned to the intervention group were eligible to receive the SSP earnings supplements if they stayed on IA for a full year and then found full-time work and left IA. Upon leaving IA, individuals could sign up to receive an earnings supplement in the amount of half of the difference between their earnings from full-time work and a benchmark level, which was set each year. The supplement amount was not affected by unearned income, such as child support, and it roughly doubled the earnings of many low-wage workers. The earnings supplement was voluntary and lasted up to three years as long as participants continued to meet eligibility requirements.
People in the comparison group were IA clients who were not eligible to receive any SSP earnings supplements.
None.
Individuals could receive SSP payments for up to three years.
Human Resources Development Canada.
British Columbia, Canada
Couple relationships, Housing, Financial assets, Parenting and co-parenting, Family formation, Child well-being