As noted above, individuals who were randomly assigned to the WRP Incentives Only comparison group received the same financial incentives for work as the WRP group but were not subject to the work requirements.
Two-parent families with able-bodied adults in the WRP Incentives Only group were required to participate in Reach Up, Vermont’s welfare-to-work program, immediately. The primary earner was required to search for and accept employment.
Providing the WRP’s incentives led to a greater cost for the government compared to benefits for participants. Single-parent families gained about $130, and the government lost about $300 (in 2000 dollars) over the six-year follow up period. However, work requirements, in addition to incentives alone, yielded benefits. Single-parent families subject to work requirements and financial incentives gained about $1,300, and the government gained about $1,300 as well (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.
The WRP provided services to participants from July 1994 to June 2001. The study randomly assigned cash assistance applicants and existing recipients from July 1995 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.
The WRP’s financial incentives applied to both the participants in the WRP and the comparison group participants in WRP Incentives Only. Financial incentives included the following:
- 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.
The WRP’s work requirements applied only to participants in the WRP but not to participants in WRP Incentives Only. Work requirements for the WRP group only included the following:
- 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 the program was implemented in all 12 of Vermont’s welfare districts, the study focused on 6 of these regions. 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 show 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.
The WRP did not impose time limits on participants’ cash assistance receipt for either group. Single-parent families in the WRP group were required to attend two months of Reach Up job search classes, and two-parent families were required to participate in Reach Up activities and search for jobs immediately after receiving cash assistance. Each CSE placement was 10 months, with no maximum number 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, including education and training, in the six-year follow-up period, which was about 11 percent more than in the WRP Incentives Only comparison group.
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.