Misplaced Pages

#726273

46-538: CalWORKs provides cash aid to parents, as well as a variety of services intended to help them find and prepare for employment. The most current requirements, and application instructions, can be found on the CDSS CalWORKs website ; the main requirements are: To receive benefits, parents must fulfill requirements such as working 30 hours per week and/or applying for a specified number of jobs per week and/or participating in training and readiness programs. This makes CalWORKs

92-546: A 15% reduction in maximum benefits (as well as other reductions) of the AFDC program beginning in 1991 that illustrates some of these impacts. After 7 years, the employment rates and average wages were somewhat higher for AFDC recipients who had been placed in the reduced-benefit program than in the control group. This could be explained by participants having a greater need for employment income when their benefits are smaller. The average disposable incomes (including wages and benefits) for

138-427: A cause for concern the decreased time CalWORKs participants are able to spend parenting their children due to increased time working in the formal sector instead. Despite these hardships associated with welfare-to-work programs, CalWORKs is generally viewed favorably by participants. In particular, the job search components are viewed as helpful in obtaining a job for unemployed participants. Indeed, 91% of those leaving

184-548: A child under 6) of work, or work-related activities such as job training, job search assistance, or community service. In 2017, California had a WPR of 61%, thanks mainly to the 52% of recipients of federal money who had un-subsidized employment. The State has responded to accountability to Federal work participation requirements in several ways. Governor Jerry Brown proposed reforms—enacted in 2012—to require recipients to be engaged in Federally-approved work activities after

230-483: A five-year limit, created state controlled funding, rewarded work with performance bonuses, and required participation in paid or unpaid work. Welfare reform made workfare the official social welfare ideology of the United States. The effort to decrease the number of people on the welfare roll was successful, although some argue that this did not translate to a decrease in poverty. The criticism related to workfare in

276-418: A form of workfare . There is also a lifetime cap of 48 months of benefits received, with some benefits restricted to 24 months. Only 50% of CalWORKs recipients are still enrolled one year after they first entered the program, and only 33% remain past two years. Two years after they first enrolled, the average recipient has used only 9 months of benefits. While the long-term effects of CalWORKs on California as

322-428: A household after a man had abandoned her or died. People of color were unable to receive any poor relief at all. This "deservingness" discrepancy impacting women and people of color set the stage for disproportionate assistance to date. Poorhouses and workhouses existed as a main method of poor relief through the 19th century, particularly growing in popularity as immigration increased in the United States and leading to

368-438: A means of increasing self-reliance. Impoverished and destitute community members were forced into labor at poorhouses and workhouses to enable individuals to provide for themselves while completing a task for the community. Workhouses were designed for the "unworthy" poor, or those who were unemployed but able to work. During this time, women were disproportionately found in workhouses, as they were unable to own property or run

414-536: A parent who is choosing not to work) or unintentionally (e.g. for a parent that is unable to meet the requirements). Workfare policies also add burdens to those who do receive aid, which again are unintentional in some cases, such as parents left unemployed by a contraction in the labor market being required to apply for weekly quotas of (scarcely available) jobs or attend job-readiness classes. These differences between welfare programs without work requirements and workfare programs like CalWORKs that are inter-connected with

460-541: A poverty rate for the state. Several such measures are calculated, including the Census Bureau ’s Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM) and the Public Policy Institute of California’s California Poverty Measure (CPM). The current CPM poverty rate in is 20%, but it is estimated it would be 21% without CalWORKs benefits. That 1 percentage point reduction corresponds to about 380,000 Californians kept "out" of poverty by

506-735: A small percentage of the population, rhetoric such as this laid the groundwork for welfare reform in the 90s. In 1996, President Bill Clinton and the Republican Congress passed the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (also known as welfare reform), which created Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) , shortened welfare stays, and mandated intensive job training and work requirements for individuals in need of assistance. The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act mandated work requirements after two years of assistance, instituted

SECTION 10

#1733115690727

552-467: A whole are complex and multi-faceted, some immediate effects on those receiving aid are easier to quantify. The resources available to each Californian (i.e. their income, accounting for taxes and benefits such as medical care) can be compared to an estimate of the resources required to meet their basic needs (a poverty threshold varying based on factors such as family size and local cost-of-living) to label them as “in” or “out” of poverty, and thus determine

598-577: Is generally unskilled and is comparable to community work carried out by criminal offenders being punished on community service schemes. Workfare has also been criticised as forced labour , as those placed under workfare who do not work for who they are assigned to risk benefit sanctions and starvation from a loss of benefits needed to survive. A 2008 report by the UK's DWP on US, Canadian, and Australian workfare schemes suggested against their effectiveness. It found little evidence that workfare majorly reduced

644-685: Is important for understanding how it affects Californians participating in it. Conditioning the provision of welfare benefits on work requirements increases the burdens on families trying not to 'fall through the cracks' between safety net programs. Even without work requirements, families face application processes for the various separate welfare programs in California that require considerable time, effort, and diligence—and often yield one or more rejections. Work requirements are an additional burden in that process as well as barrier rejecting more families from receiving CalWORKs aid, whether intentionally (e.g. for

690-696: Is managed by the California Department of Social Services (CDSS), but is operated and administered locally by the 58 counties of California . In Los Angeles County , the county Department of Public Social Services (DPSS) administers CalWORKs. It has a caseload larger than any other jurisdiction except the States of California and New York and an annual budget of over $ 3 billion. Federally recognized native tribes are also eligible to receive federal TANF funding to administer TANF programs ("Tribal TANF"). The State of California also provides funding to supplement

736-555: Is not). Race discrimination has placed a central role in this struggle, particularly in the United States as a diverse nation. Typically, people of color have struggled entering the workforce due to narratives related to high crime and low-skilled levels. This discrimination is a leading cause for the higher rates of poverty of people of color in the United States. Jeff Manza argues that people of color, particularly African Americans, are more likely to utilize social benefits because they are more likely to be poor. Since workfare decreases

782-907: The United Kingdom , have generated considerable debate and controversy. In the Netherlands workfare is known as Work First, based on the Wisconsin Works program from the United States. Workfare approaches to welfare are examples of Active Labor Market Policy (ALMP) that differ based on country, welfare state , and time period. Active labor market policies are utilized to counteract capitalistic market failure that prevent full employment in an economy. Four types of active labor market policies are incentive reinforcement, employment assistance, maintaining occupation, and human (social) capital investment. Workfare/work-first approaches have been identified as more coercive forms of welfare to work regimes. The US and

828-461: The Family Engagement and Empowerment Division, branch chief of CalWorks and Child Care, and branch chief of Child Care and Refugee Programs. Its mission is "to serve, aid and protect the needy and vulnerable children and adults in ways that strengthen and preserve families, encourage personal responsibility, and foster independence." CDSS has more than 4,000 employees in 54 offices throughout

874-526: The TANF grants received by tribes located within the State. This is allotted based on the number of families receiving benefits from each Tribal TANF program. For Federally recognized tribes that do not implement TANF programs, county CalWORKs administrators are required to make CalWORKs benefits available. Members of unrecognized tribes are treated by the counties as residents, and so can receive CalWORKs as well. CalWORKs

920-405: The UK are both examples of liberal welfare regimes that prioritize the market's role in mitigating poverty, hence adopting workfare. There are two main types of workfare scheme: those that encourage direct employment to get individuals off the welfare roll and directly into the workforce, and those that are intended to increase human capital by providing training and education to those currently in

966-607: The United States dates back to before the American Revolution , during which land grants and military pensions were distributed sub-nationally and based on means-testing . The disbursement of the "first" social benefits set precedents for the development of the US welfare state. In the early days of the United States, most Americans were deeply connected to the Protestant religion that favored literacy and hard work. Therefore, education

SECTION 20

#1733115690727

1012-468: The United States is focused on the financial self-reliance of families through work, and tends to lean towards a male-breadwinner model. A male-breadwinner model assumes that men participate in the labor market and women complete domestic and caregiving tasks unpaid. Welfare policies designed and structured based on the assumption and support of marriage significantly disadvantage single mothers. For example, in some states, work-first policies may not consider

1058-441: The United States is most notably about the tight restrictions and opportunities for low-skilled workers. Loic Wacquant theorizes that the United States and other Western, liberal states have shifted towards more punitive governance under the guise of neoliberalism . Supplemented by welfare reform and the 1994 Crime Bill , he argues that workfare has shrunk (via stricter restrictions) and prisonfare has expanded, ultimately locking

1104-569: The Western model. However, a workfare model typically not only focuses on provision of social protection through a wage-income transfer, but also supports workers to get into work. The purported main goal of workfare is to generate a "net contribution" to society from welfare recipients. Most commonly, it means getting unemployed people into paid work, reducing or eliminating welfare payments to them and creating an income that generates taxes. Workfare participants may retain certain employee rights throughout

1150-483: The childcare responsibilities of women receiving benefits when requiring them to participate in workfare. Single mothers are 33% more likely than married parents to be in poverty in the United States also in part due to the stagnant minimum wage and gender pay gap . Canada ran the experimental Self-Sufficiency Project , a "generous" income supplement to welfare recipients who found work. 1998 research saw significant increases in employment rates and hours worked over

1196-406: The control group (who did not benefit from the project). Though later research suggested that the control group was on trend to catch-up with the recipients in the long-run. A 2001 review of a range of welfare programs concluded that earnings supplements are an effective policy to increase employment and earnings. In the UK, critics point out that the type of work offered by workfare providers

1242-414: The design and implementation of their TANF programs, they must meet certain requirements to receive Federal funds. This puts the generosity or austerity of CalWORKs to some degree under the control of Federal legislation, and it has lately been growing more austere, as described above. The effects of such reductions in benefits are of course varied and complex. California conducted a controlled experiment of

1288-458: The emphasis on education and increases the emphasis on work, scholars like Manza assert that work-first policies trap people of color in a cycle of low-wage work and poverty. Gender inequality arises in workfare as well, particularly related to equal pay and dependent care work . Welfare states can adopt different models related to the main breadwinner: male-breadwinner model, dual breadwinner model, or dual-earner-dual carer model. Workfare in

1334-684: The event that the State as a whole receives a penalty. The State further requires CalWORKs recipients, along with their caseworker, to construct plans for beginning work-activities as soon as possible. Workfare Workfare is a governmental plan under which welfare recipients are required to accept public-service jobs or to participate in job training. Many countries around the world have adopted workfare (sometimes implemented as "work-first" policies) to reduce poverty among able-bodied adults; however, their approaches to execution vary. The United States and United Kingdom are two countries utilizing workfare, albeit with different backgrounds. Workfare

1380-468: The first 24 months of aid (during which time a more flexible set of work activities is available). This change was also intended to decrease the time recipients spend in the program, hence cutting costs at the same time as guarding against a reduction in Federal funding. The State also extends this accountability to the counties through a policy of decreasing funding to counties that don't meet the Federal rate in

1426-427: The labor market make workfare programs less able to aid parents that are already doing as much as they can to secure jobs that would provide sufficient income. This creates what Eva Bertram describes as "a three-sided trap, defined by a lack of assistance for the nonworking poor, inadequate support for those in low-wage jobs, and few exits from the low-wage sector to middle-class jobs." Other researchers have identified as

CalWORKs - Misplaced Pages Continue

1472-402: The narrative that poverty equates to laziness. Throughout the 20th century, narratives about laziness morphed into stereotypes such as the welfare queen that aimed to paint black, single mothers as abusers of the welfare system. This stereotype claimed that black mothers supposedly refused to get jobs, had numerous children, and lived exclusively off of taxpayer dollars. While applying only to

1518-431: The number of claimants, or increased the likelihood of finding work. Rather it pushes participants to stop claiming before even getting work, leaving them with no income. However, the report notes there was a limited pool of evidence. Comprehensive Employment and Training Act California Department of Social Services The California Department of Social Services ( CDSS ) is a California state agency for many of

1564-403: The process, however, often workfare programs are determined to be "outside employment relationships" and therefore the rights of beneficiaries can be different. Some workfare systems also aim to derive a contribution from welfare recipients by more direct means. Such systems obligate unemployed people to undertake work that is considered beneficial to their community. The history of workfare in

1610-448: The program in 2001 were currently employed, and 97% had been employed at some point while enrolled. The majority of those staying in the program or returning after a brief period not enrolled had been employed while in the program as well. While CalWORKs seems to be effective at getting participants some employment, the quality of that employment is a bigger challenge. The large number of participants who are employed and receiving benefits at

1656-436: The program than they had with the AFDC. The California Legislature initially created CalWORKs to be more generous than many other states' TANF implementations, but has since reformed it to be generally more austere. The lifetime benefit cap, for example, was initially set at 60 months but was reduced in 2011 to 48 months, and split in 2012 so that partial restrictions applied after 24 months. Although states have broad freedom in

1702-803: The program. Of all welfare programs in the state, only CalFresh and earned income tax credits (the federal EITC and the new CalEITC) are responsible for larger reductions (2 percentage points each). This is a larger reduction than the nation-wide average for TANF programs, but by other metrics CalWORKs performs on-par with other states. As far as can be determined from Census (CPS) data, CalWORKs achieves similar effects for low-income families as programs in comparable states. Specifically, no significant differences were found in poverty rates, unemployment rates, TANF (CalWORKs) enrollment rates, or education/training enrollment rates when comparing likely CalWORKs-eligible families. Looking beyond this binary in-or-out of poverty type of effect, CalWORKs' welfare-to-work nature

1748-902: The programs defined as part of the social safety net in the United States , and is within the auspices of the California Health and Human Services Agency . Federal and State funds for adoptions , the largest SNAP program in the country (known as CalFresh, formerly led by current Department of Aging Director Kim McCoy Wade), CalWORKs program, foster care, aid for people with disabilities, family crisis counseling, subsistence payments to poor families with children, child welfare services and many other efforts are distributed through this department. On June 27, 2019, Governor Gavin Newsom appointed Kimberley Johnson as CDSS Director. Johnson previously served in other capacities at CDSS, including as deputy director of

1794-580: The recipient as unavailable to seek employment or be employed. Under workfare, recipients have to meet certain participation requirements to continue to receive their welfare benefits. These requirements are often a combination of activities that are intended to improve the recipient's job prospects (such as training, rehabilitation , and work experience ) and those designated as contributing to society (such as unpaid or low-paid work). These programs, now common in Australia (known as "mutual obligation"), Canada, and

1840-561: The reduced-benefit group stayed approximately equal to that of the control group, however, as increases in wages made up for decreases in benefits. This disposable income (for both groups) remained well below the poverty line. A key way the Federal government exerts its influence is by threatening a reduction in funding unless at least 50% of families receiving monthly payments meet work or job training requirements. Specifically, to be counted toward this Work Participation Rate (WPR), parents must perform 30 hours per week (20 for single parents with

1886-603: The same time illustrate that neither CalWORKs' benefits nor their wages are alone sufficient to meet their family's needs. Indeed, most of those with jobs have extremely low wages (well below their poverty thresholds on average) and little opportunity for advancement. Participants identified a lack of support from CalWORKs for improving inadequate employment or for maintaining employment once hired. In short, unemployed parents in search of jobs are often able to gain employment through CalWORKs, but that does not translate directly to earning sufficient income to meet their family's needs. It

CalWORKs - Misplaced Pages Continue

1932-413: The same vulnerable population in a vicious cycle in which low wage work, decreased benefits, and low social mobility lead to increased crime and punishment. He also argues that the institutional racism inherent in the United States has led to the underdevelopment of public aid. In all welfare states, there is a constant need to address inclusion and exclusion (i.e., who Is able to access policies and who

1978-557: The welfare system. In less developed countries, similar schemes are designed to alleviate rural poverty among day-labourers by providing state-subsidised temporary work during those periods of the year when little agricultural work is available. For example, the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) in India offers 100 days' paid employment per year for those eligible, rather than unemployment benefits on

2024-598: Was created by the Welfare-to-Work Act of 1997. It replaced the former Greater Avenues to Independence (GAIN) program, the California implementation of the federal Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program. At the Federal level, AFDC was replaced with TANF in 1996, bringing work requirements that were stricter than those of the AFDC program, and a new cap on individuals' lifetime benefits. While these requirements for participants were stricter, TANF did give more freedom to states to design their implementations of

2070-473: Was first introduced by civil rights leader James Charles Evers in 1968; however, it was popularized by Richard Nixon in a televised speech August 1969. An early model of workfare had been pioneered in 1961 by Joseph Mitchell in Newburgh, New York . Traditional welfare benefits systems are usually awarded based on certain conditions, such as searching for work, or based on meeting criteria that would position

2116-570: Was promoted and poor relief/cash assistance was discouraged in addressing poverty. In addition, the United States never had a history of feudalism to leave a residue of distinct social classes. Feudalism discouraged education to preserve social order; instead the United States immediately embraced capitalism , an economic system in full support of public education. As such, the United States from its early beginnings placed greater importance on education to decrease poverty. This history gave rise to colonial poor relief methodology that supported work, as

#726273