• Working to support my family and to become self-sufficient;
• Looking for and accepting employment;
• Participating in assignments from my case manager;
• Notifying my case manager immediately of any changes in my circumstances;
• Keeping appointments with my case manager in a timely manner, and;
• Arranging child day care and transportation that allows me to participate in the Employment Program.

1. motivation lacking
2. welfare policies are to blame
3. welfare recipients will be attentive students/listeners, no matter how overwhelmed

Relevant statistics:

1. episodic nature of most welfare experiences on or off the books while getting assistance
2. recently employed (churning)
3. time off vs on (welfare)

Perhaps more rational reasons involved? E.g., what is the institutional logic behind Welfare Reform (what sociologist Robert Merton referred to as 'latent function'). From Peter Berger:

"...the “manifest” function of antigambling legislation may be to suppress gambling, its “latent” function to create an illegal empire for the gambling syndicates. Or Christian missions in parts of Africa “manifestly” tried to convert Africans to Christianity, “latently” helped to destroy the indigenous tribal cultures and this provided an important impetus towards rapid social transformation. Or the control of the Communist Party over all sectors of social life in Russia “manifestly” was to assure the continued dominance of the revolutionary ethos, “latently” created a new class of comfortable bureaucrats uncannily bourgeois in its aspirations and increasingly disinclined toward the self-denial of Bolshevik dedication (nomenklatura). Or the “manifest” function of many voluntary associations in America is sociability and public service, the “latent” function to attach status indices to those permitted to belong to such associations.” "

• 47% lack high school diplomas19% have had some college
• average of two children

• child care, physical/mental health implications, obligations to other family members, unforeseens, low-wage low-security employment, changing work schedules
• transportation

• car repair money
• prescription eyeglasses
• deposit on new apartment
• reconstructive dental surgery
• this is ALL at the DISCRETION OF CASEWORKERS

• Various bureaucratic hoops to be jumped through:
  • An initial interview
  • Documentation needed
  • Employment caseworker-another screening and interview session, which includes a literacy test, work history, and job skills assessment
• Busy work --rules:
  • Work participation-looking for work--here are some of the requirements (picture yourself here ...):
    • 40 job contacts in 30 days.
    • job offer refusal canlead to 'sanctions'
    • 'Job readiness'/life skills classes.
    • No job after 30 days: Time for training!
      • Work first policy
    • clerical, nurse assistant, data entry, food service, childcare, 'guest room attendants' (hotel maids);
    • In some cases it amounts to free training for employers
    • Still no job?? It's time for workfare!
  • Reporting-there is a fairly constant monitoring of recipients' cases. You must:
    • Meet with your caseworker every 30 days
    • Contact your caseworker if you miss a day or even an hour of training program or workfare placement
    • Any changes?? At all??
    • If you get a job you have a choice of continuing with benefits or closing your case.
    • The 'Big Clock'
    • Reporting any change in employment conditions

Sanctions

• What is sanctionable? Short list:
  • Failure to make job contacts, attend scheduled meeting with caseworker, go to all job readiness classes, being late for a workfare placement, not cooperating with childcare enforcement, quitting your job without good cause or getting fired because of a mistake.
  • Some caseworkers deal ONLY with sanctioned cases--this uses up a good deal of welfare agencies' resources
  • What is sanction? Essentially, a recipient's welfare benefits can get cut if he/she doesn't 'behave appropriately'
    • First sanction costs one month of benefits, the second 3 months, 3rd 6 months, etc.
    • Fear of sanctions, ignorance of rules
    • Ticking clock
    • ¼ of clients at any given time are under sanction
    • As mentioned, many don't understand the systems of sanctions
    • strategies to avoid sanctions:
      • sit it out and wait for benefits to resume
      • 'drift away'
      • Self-removal (bad strategy, unless you want another crack at the initial interview)

• Is this aimed at self-sufficiency, or enforced work? Are the two compatible?
• Compliance, deference to employer, the work ethic--this is what recipients are learning
• Following Byzantine system of rules, sanctions.
• Low-wage employment, work-first is the model being used
• How is success measured?
  • Size of welfare rolls--reductions are viewed as a success--are they necessarily?
  • Employment of TANF recipients--states lose federal funds if their job placement statistics go down.
• Let's look at some other statistics:
  • Those off welfare experienced more material hardships than those on welfare
  • Feminization of poverty-single mothers' population increasing while their incomes are declining (by $600/yr in 1990s)
  • Lots of churning, people in and out of poverty--maybe 20% achieve relatively permanent stability--can you predict what these 20% might look like?
• Are we just shifting dependency-on men, low-wage employers, extended family members, friends, private or non-profits, etc.?
• The ticking clock instills the fear factor--in a sense it's the bank account for the poor. And many states have their own clocks with different timelines. Imagine two giant ticking clocks.
• Administrative jargon, terms such as 'enhanced disregards,' supportive services, transitional, and differences between federal and state requirements, complicate recipients' abilities to be knowledgeable and avoid sanctions. Is this perhaps intentional?

Anything wrong with this picture?