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http://www.researchforum.org/project_general_100.html |
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Women's Employment Study
General Information
View a brief abstract 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 areaProgram Components, Policies, and Activities Evaluated
Employment activities
- Job skills training
- Job readiness activities
- Job search
- On the job training
- Employment Activities - misc.
Educational activities
- GED courses
- High school completion
- Post-secondary education
- Educational Activities - misc.
Financial disincentives/Sanctions
- Reduced benefits for non-compliance
- Financial Disincentives/Sanctions - misc.
Social/Support services
- Child care
- Health benefits
- Transportation
- Case management
- Counseling
- Substance abuse/dependence treatment
- Social/Support Services - misc.
- Child protection agencies
- Community/social services
- Treatment for problems such as domestic violence or mental health
- Home visits
- Emergency financial/material assistance
- Referrals to other service organizations
Food stamps
- Food Stamps - misc.
Housing
- Housing - misc.
| Variation in program components across sites? | No |
| Notes on program components |
Educational Activities: Data related to high school/GED completion are collected. Employment Activities: Data related to job skills and workplace norms are collected. Social/Support Services: Data related to transportation to place of employment are collected. |
Outcomes Assessed
Family and relationship outcomes
- Violence in family or other relationships (child abuse and neglect)
- Births/pregnancies
- Parent-child interactions
- Family and relationship outcomes - misc.
- Parenting attitudes
- Parenting skills
Education
- High school graduation/GED receipt
- Adult literacy levels
- Education - misc.
Employment
- Job readiness/training
- Job attainment
- Job retention
- Number of hours worked for wages
- Employment - misc.
Income security
- Child support payments
- Earnings
- Food stamps receipt
- Medicaid receipt
- Welfare receipt
- Income security - misc.
- Overall income
- Unemployment Insurance (UI) receipt
Adult outcomes
- Emotional well-being
- Health/ physical well-being (including prenatal health)
- Adult outcomes - misc.
Housing
- Residential mobility
- Homelessness
- Housing - misc.
- Home ownership
Substance abuse
- Patterns and severity of substance use
- Substance abuse - misc.
Attitudes towards work, welfare, and program
- Attitudes towards work, welfare, and program - misc.
Service utilization
- Service utilization - misc.
Sanctions
- Sanctions - misc.
Emotional well-being
- Emotional well-being - misc.
Health/ physical well-being (including prenatal health)
- Health/ physical well-being - misc.
Child Outcomes
- Child overall development
Types of Studies
| Type | Descriptive/Analytical Study |
| Aim |
To answer the following questions: 1. How prevalent among welfare recipients is each of a large number of potential barriers to employment, such as health problems, mental health problems, few job skills, and inadequate knowledge of workplace norms? 2. What percent of recipients have multiple barriers? 3. Is the number of barriers associated with welfare mothers’ employment? How much does employment decrease as the number of barriers increases? 4. Which individual barriers matter for employment, and how much do we gain by adding this comprehensive set of factors to a model of employment? |
Data Sources
| Source | Survey |
| Title | In-person baseline survey |
| Sample Characteristics/Data Collection |
Random sample of 753 single mothers on welfare selected from active single mothers cases of the Michigan Family Independence Agency. Data collected Fall of 1997. |
| Sites | Metropolitan area of Michigan |
| Response Rate/Attrition Notes | Response rate: 86.2% |
| Additional Execution Notes | Interview lasted approximately 1 hour. |
| Source | Survey |
| Title | In-person follow-up survey |
| Sample Characteristics/Data Collection |
Random sample of 753 single mothers on welfare selected from active single mothers cases of the Michigan Family Independence Agency. Data collected Fall 1998, Fall 1999, and Fall 2001. |
| Sites | Metropolitan area of Michigan |
| Response Rate/Attrition Notes | Response rates were 92% and 91% for 2nd and 3rd waves. |
| Additional Execution Notes | Surveys lasted 1 hour for 2nd wave and 90 minutes for 3rd wave. 4th wave (planned for Fall 2001) expected to last 90 minutes. |
Findings Available
Interim Impact FindingsInterim Descriptive/Analytical Findings
Findings
| 10/01/00: Women's Employment Study: How They’re Faring Work and Earnings Under Welfare Reform |
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Danziger looked at several personal characteristics that might impede employment, including lack of a high school degree, low work experience, few work skills and work norms (also called "soft skills"), perceived experiences of discrimination, lack of access to a car, mental health diagnoses, substance dependence, health problems of the mother and her children, and domestic violence. Not surprisingly, women who had a greater number of these problems are more likely to have difficulty finding and keeping a job. The percentage of months worked between February 1997 and Fall 1998 falls from 82% for those who did not have any barriers to only 7% for those with six or more barriers. On average, welfare-reliant women had about twice as many barriers as did wage-reliant women. Over half (52%) of welfare-reliant mothers, for example, lacked access to a car or driver’s license, compared with 21% of wage-reliant mothers. One-quarter of welfare-reliant women met the diagnostic screening criteria for at least one psychiatric disorder, compared with about one-tenth of wage-reliant women. Similar disparities were evident for most of the barriers examined. The two most common barriers to working were lack of a high school degree and transportation, followed by few work skills, and mental health issues. Nearly one-fourth (23%) of wage-reliant mothers had less than a high school degree, while approximately one-third of those combining work and welfare and those neither working nor receiving welfare lacked a high school education (32% and 35%, respectively). Among welfare-reliant women, 46% lacked a high school degree. Lack of work norms was low on the list of barriers; 9% reported fewer than five work norms. |
| 06/01/00: Women's Employment Study: Human Capital, Health, and Mental Health of Welfare Recipients: Co-Occurance and Correlates |
| While about half of the respondents do not have potential barriers to employment [including mental health disorders, substance dependence, and physical health or disability], a third have one barrier, and the remaining fifth have multiple barriers. Mental health and human capital problems, when present, tend to occur in isolation about half the time. However, physical health and substance dependence are more likely to co-occur with at least one other type of problem. Women with co-occurring human capital, mental health, and physical health problems have the poorest work outcomes. Controlling for other correlates of employment and demographic differences, women with a human capital deficit or with problems in two or more domains worked in significantly fewer subsequent months (20-30 percentage points less) than women who met none of the criteria for problems in the different domains. The findings suggest the need to design and implement more assessment, referrals and service provision for health, mental health and human capital problems to support women to meet the challenges in the transition from welfare to work. |
| 04/01/00: Women's Employment Study: Does it Pay to Move From Welfare to Work? |
| We analyze data from a sample of single mothers, all of whom received welfare in February 1997, and find that those who left welfare and work or who combined work and welfare were financially better off, on average, than those who remained on the welfare caseload but did not work. Those who worked had higher household incomes, experienced less material hardship, engaged in fewer activities to make ends meet and had lower expectations of experiencing hardship in the near future than did non-working welfare recipients. |
| Women who are accumulating t he most labor market experience, measured by the proportion of months worked between February 1997 and Fall 1998, have higher levels of financial and subjective well-being. They have higher monthly earnings and income net of work-related transportation and child care expenses, have experienced fewer material hardships, (even though they are less likely to have health coverage than women who have not worked), and are less likely to report engaging in other activities to make ends meet, such as pawning possessions, seeking charity, or engaging in illegal behavior. They are also less likely t o report subjective financial strains. Nonetheless, a substantial proportion of respondents, regardless of their level of work involvement, report serious economic difficulties and subjective financial strain. For example, the Fall 1998 poverty rate for those who worked in every month was 36.9 percent, about one-third received cash welfare, two-thirds received Food Stamps, and a fifth reported two or more experiences of material hardship , such as lacking health insurance and experiencing food insufficiency. In addition, one quarter resorted to at least one activity to help make ends meet, 56 percent found it difficult to live on their income, and 21 percent expected to experience additional hardships in future months. These respondents are successfully making the transition from welfare to work, but continue to rely on government for income supplements and subsidized access t o medical care and child care. The extent of material hardship and financial strain that we have documented, even among women who are working in every month, demonstrates that declining caseloads do not automatically translate into improved well-being. Working is associated with reductions in, but not elimination of, economic vulnerability and material hardships. |
| 05/01/02: Women's Employment Study: Maternal Work Behavior Under Welfare Reform: How Does the Transition from Welfare to Work Affect Child Development? |
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Interim Impact Findings:
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| 12/01/00: Women's Employment Study: Mental Health Problems Among Single Mothers: Implications for Work and Welfare Reform |
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Interim Impact Findings:
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| 07/01/01: Women's Employment Study: Why Some Women Fail to Achieve Economic Security (Research Forum Newsletter) |
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Interim Impact Findings: Women who have multiple barriers to obtaining and holding employment will be the least likely to obtain economic self-sufficiency under the new welfare regime begun by the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA). The most important barriers include low job skills and mental health problems. An evaluation of Michigan’s welfare-to-work programs concluded that the services provided do not address the needs of jobless recipients with the greatest barriers to employment. |
Recommendations
| Women's Employment Study: Human Capital, Health, and Mental Health of Welfare Recipients: Co-Occurance and Correlates (06/01/00) |
| These findings regarding employment experience accumulated over time suggest that many women in the post-PRWORA caseload may be moving into fairly stable work trajectories. Other, however, will continue to fall behind without access to needed supports and services. Those who fall behind will often have problems co-occurring in these four domains. They are also more likely to suffer from lack of access to transportation and having children with health problems. These findings attest to the importance of expanding efforts to reduce or accommodate the serious problems women face as they attempt to meet the challenges in the transition from welfare to work. |
| Women's Employment Study: Approaching the limit: Early national lessons from welfare reform (In the book Rural Dimensions of Welfare Reform) (12/01/01) |
| "What is required if we are to reduce poverty as well as welfare dependency is an increased willingness to spend public funds to develop a work-oriented safety net." |
Existing Publications
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