Leaving Welfare: Independence or Continued Vulnerability?

Abstract

Data from two semi‐structured interviews gathered approximately six months apart from seven women who were receiving cash welfare benefits at the time of the first interview and were not receiving benefits at the second interview were used to analyze the experiences of leaving welfare. Emergent themes about the post‐welfare experience are: (1) the low wages and lack of advancement opportunities in jobs, (2) confusion related to program administration, (3) the continued reliance on income support programs and kin, and (4) the banking of cash benefits under the five‐year time limit as a new safety net.

A Comprehensive Employment Model for Low-Income Mothers

“…Research results indicate that low-income mothers perceive a number of barriers to employment in addition to traditional human capital deficiencies identified in most employment models (Bowen & Neenan, 1993). They perceive and probably have limited childcare, housing, and transportation options due to financial constraints (Litt, Gaddis, Fletcher, & Winter, 2000).…”

“…Women in rural communities face fewer and lower-wage jobs, longer distances to services and jobs, less access to public transportation, and fewer childcare options (Cook, Crull, Fletcher, Hinnant-Bernard, & Peterson, 2002). Low-income women living in rural areas have been severely impacted by the restructuring of the economy from high-wage industry to low-wage service jobs (Litt et al, 2000). Therefore, community variation may play a significant role in the employment prediction of mothers in low-income families.…”

How Does Consumers' Financial Vulnerability Relate to Positive and Negative Financial Outcomes? The Mediating Role of Individual Psychological Characteristics

“…The FCA, in a report on consumer credit and consumers in vulnerable circumstances, considers vulnerable consumers as individuals who, due to personal circumstances, are especially susceptible to financial detriment. Although neither of these reports introduces a formal scale to measure the extent to which individual consumers are financially vulnerable, they do list a set of common risk factors of vulnerability, which is supported by previous consumer and public policy research (Cui and Choudhury ; Griffiths and Harmon ; Moschis, Mosteller, and Fatt ; Wang ; e.g., Anderson, Strand, and Collins ; Gentry et al ; Kaufman‐Scarborough and Childers ; Litt et al ; Rinaldo ). This set of risk factors forms the basis of the financial vulnerability measure we develop in this paper.…”

Leaving Welfare: Differences Between Those Who Exited Voluntarily and Those Who Stayed

“…1). In a small qualitative study of women who left welfare prior to the implementation of PRWORA, Litt et al (2000) found that respondents relied on government support, such as food stamps, Medicaid, and the school lunch program after exit, suggesting that employment alone will not lift families out of poverty; supplemental government programs are needed. Similarly, Cancian et al (l999) looked at welfare exit after federal reform and noted that welfare leavers received several government benefits in the first year after exit, especially food stamps and Medicaid.…”