the Forum | Women's Employment Study

Overview of Programs

Program Components

Children

Special Populations

Caseload Characteristics

Home > Research Database >

	Women's Employment Study

General Information

View a brief abstract of this project.

View a complete, printer-friendly profile of this project.

Evaluator(s)	University of Michigan Poverty Research and Training Center
Investigator(s)	Sheldon Danziger (University of Michigan) Richard Tolman (University of Michigan) Mary Cocoran (University of Michigan) Sandra Danziger (University of Michigan) Kristin Seefeldt (University of Michigan) Kristine Siefert (University of Michigan)
Sponsor(s)	University of Michigan
Funder(s)	Charles Stewart Mott Foundation Joyce Foundation John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation National Institute of Child Health and Development National Institute of Mental Health
Subcontractor(s)	Not applicable

Domain	Income Security/TANF Child/Family Community/Neighborhood
Status	Operational with Findings
Duration	Sep 1997 - Aug 2003
Type	Research and/or Program Evaluation
Goal	To explore how barriers, such as lack of basic work skills and experience, inadequate knowledge of workplace norms, transportation problems, health and mental health problems, substance abuse, and domestic violence, constrain welfare mothers’ employability.
Program/Policy Description	This project examines barriers to employment among welfare mothers in a four-wave panel study of 753 current and former welfare recipient families in an urban county in Michigan. In-person interviews are conducted on a comprehensive set of barriers to employment, such as schooling, work experience, work readiness, job skills and credentials, experiences of employment discrimination and harassment, physical and mental health status, alcohol and drug use, family stresses including child well-being, experiences of domestic violence, and experiences in welfare-to work services and training programs. Questions such as the extent and prevalence of multiple barriers to work and co-morbidity among barriers, which barriers or combinations reduce wage growth, how barriers change as work and welfare status changes, and how barriers and welfare-to-work program participation are related, are examined. This panel study, referred to as the Women's Employment Study (WES), is to identify the key factors that enable welfare recipients to remain employed and enable social service providers to better assess client needs and design targeted short term and long term service program components.
Notes	Visit the project web site.

Last Updated	06/24/01
Type of Summary	Reviewed
External Reviewer(s)	Kristin Seefeldt (University of Michigan) Sheldon Danziger (University of Michigan)
Contact(s)	Sheldon Danziger (sheldond@umich.edu) University of Michigan 540 E. Liberty Street Suite 202 (T) (734) 998-8505 (F) (734) 998-8516
Publications Department	Publications and Reports (not reported) University of Michigan School of Social Work 1080 South University Avenue, Room 1748 (T) (734) 764-3309 (F) (734) 936-1961
Submitter(s)	Research Forum Staff (info@researchforum.org) National Center for Children In Poverty 215 West 125th St, 3rd Fl (T) (646)284-9600 (F) not reported

Populations Studied

Target Population	Recipients/participants/clients Former recipients ("leavers") Single parent families
Subgroups Analyzed	Recipients/participants/clients Former recipients ("leavers") Single parent families Low-wage workers Persons with substance abuse problems Domestic violence victims Persons with mental/physical health problems Low-income households
Sample Size and Unit	Random sample of 753 single welfare mothers who live in a Michigan metropolitan area. To be eligible for sample, women had to be white (non-Hispanic) or African-American, US citizens, and not classified as exempt from work requirements. Data collected Fall 1997. In waves two and three, 12 months and 24 months later (Fall 1998 and Fall 1999), extensive data was collected on recipients’ employment experiences and on their experiences with Michigan’s work-oriented welfare system between waves one and two (two and three), all the baseline information on potential barriers to employment and family functioning was re-measured.

Sites Studied

1 Michigan metropolitan area

Privacy Policy	Terms of Use
This site copyright © 2003 The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York, for its National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP). All rights reserved.