Individuals who were randomly assigned to the comparison group were subject to Vermont’s existing AFDC program, which meant they could receive cash assistance without a work requirement or financial incentives to work.
The cost per single-parent family in the WRP was about $13,800 (2000 dollars) over the six-year follow-up period, which was about $1,300 more than the cost of providing Vermont’s AFDC cash assistance. This included case management, employment and training operating costs, and supportive services. Single-parent families gained about $1,450, and the government gained about $1,000 (in 2000 dollars) over the six-year follow-up period. The study defined government gains as the amount the government saved from reduced public assistance benefits relative to the amount the government spent on participants in the WRP.
A cost–benefit analysis estimated that participants gained more in earnings, fringe benefits, tax credits, and supportive services than they lost in public assistance, tax payments, and medical assistance, by about $1,460 per person. The government gained about $970 per person. Taken together, that represented a gain of about $2,200 to society. Two-parent families gained about $2,700, and the government lost about $800 (in 2000 dollars) over the six-year follow-up period because the program did not reduce public assistance payments for these families.
The WRP provided services to participants from July 1994 to June 2001. The study randomly assigned cash assistance applicants and existing recipients from July 1994 to December 1996. Participant impacts were measured for six years after random assignment.
The WRP was created under the federal Section 1115 waivers to test new approaches to achieving AFDC’s goals. The WRP aimed to encourage work and increase self-sufficiency for individuals receiving cash assistance welfare through financial incentives and work requirements. Both single-parent and two-parent families were eligible for cash assistance regardless of their recent work history. Unmarried families that lived and had a child together were treated as a family unit. The WRP did not have a time limit for cash assistance, and participants’ cash assistance was not reduced or denied if they did not comply. Features included the following:
Financial incentives
- Enhanced earnings disregard: The first $150 of a participant’s earnings, plus 25 percent of remaining earnings, was not considered in determining benefit eligibility.
- Asset limits: Participants could own a car of any value without it counting toward asset limits that might make a family ineligible for benefits, which allowed participants the opportunity to have reliable transportation.
- Child support: Custodian parents received the full child support payments, rather than receiving only the first $50 a month and the state keeping the remainder. Payments less than $50 were not counted as income so were not counted against their cash assistance benefits.
- Medicaid: Participants received transitional Medicaid coverage for three years and child care subsidies for one year if their family income did not exceed 80 percent of the Vermont median income.
Work requirements
- Single-parent family requirements: The WRP required single-parent families receiving cash assistance for 30 months to work; however, participants with children younger than age 13 only had to work part time. At 28 months of receiving cash assistance, single-parent families were required to participate in Reach Up, Vermont’s welfare-to-work program. Reach Up participants attended job search classes once or twice a week for eight weeks and received case management.
- Two-parent family requirements: The WRP required two-parent families with able-bodied adults to participate in Reach Up immediately and to search for and accept employment. At 15 months of receiving cash assistance, two-parent families were required to work full time. The WRP required two-parent families with a disabled parent to follow the same work requirements as single-parent families.
- Community service employment: Participants in Reach Up who were not able to find unsubsidized employment were placed in minimum-wage CSE. Reach Up placed participants in CSE for 10 months before placing them in another CSE if they did not find unsubsidized employment.
- Additional policies for noncompliance: Participants who did not work in unsubsidized employment or a CSE were required to attend three meetings in the welfare assistance office each month. The state did not close participants’ cases but instead used their cash assistance grant to pay their bills.
Challenges. Confirming whether participants were working once required was a challenge because participants’ employment was often dynamic.
The study did not discuss any tools to measure fidelity to the intervention model.
DSW and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services funded the intervention, with DSW funding case management and local providers funding employment and training services.
While WRP was implemented statewide, the evaluation focused on 6 of Vermont’s 12 welfare districts. The welfare districts in the study included about two-thirds of Vermont’s cash assistance caseload.
The Vermont Department of Social Welfare (DSW), later called the Department of Prevention, Assistance, Transition, and Health Access, implemented the WRP.
The Vermont Department of Employment and Training (DET) operated Reach Up job search classes, developed CSE positions, and placed participants in CSE positions.
The WRP served single- and two-parent families applying for or receiving cash assistance welfare. Participation was mandatory.
Of participants in single-parent families, 93 percent were female, and the average age was 31. Seventy-three percent held high school diplomas or GEDs. Of the single-parent families, 89 percent had at least one child younger than age 13, and 37 percent had a child younger than age 3.
The study did not discuss the overall demographic statistics of two-parent families. However, it did present statistics for two-parent families with a disabled parent, which showed that the parents in 87 percent of such families were married. Of two-parent families with a disabled parent, 83 percent had at least one child younger than age 13 and 30 percent had a child younger than age 3.
Each CSE placement was ten months and there was no maximum amount of CSE placements.
Single-parent families received 29 months of cash assistance on average over a six-year period. Fifty-five percent of single-parent families in the WRP participated in an employment-related activity in the six-year follow-up period.
Fewer participants were in CSE than expected. Three percent of single-parent families and 4 percent of two-parent families worked in CSE in the six-year follow-up period. This was because participants received cash assistance for fewer than 30 months or were able to find unsubsidized employment.
Eligibility specialists and family services case managers provided services at DSW. Staff at DET provided Reach Up services. The study authors did not include information on the number of staff or their training, degrees, or certifications.