Welfare as Maternity Leave? Exemptions from Welfare Work Requirements and Maternal Employment

Abstract

In some states, the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program offers the equivalent of paid maternity leave without job protection to low-income, single mothers of infants. Age-of-youngest-child (AYC) exemptions waive work requirements for TANF recipients after the birth of a child, generally for 3–12 months, depending on the state. This study uses data from the Current Population Survey (1998–2008) to examine whether the availability and length of AYC exemptions are predictive of rates of employment, work, and full-time work among low-educated single mothers with infants. The analysis uses the difference-in-differences (DD) technique, a comparison of outcomes under different policy treatments and between treatment and comparison groups. The results suggest that AYC exemptions are not related to employment or work rates but that living in a state with no AYC exemption is strongly and positively associated with rates of full-time work among low-educated mothers with infants.

The Timing of Exemptions From Welfare Work Requirements and Its Effects on Mothers' Work and Welfare Receipt Around Childbirth

“…My estimates are well within the range reported by previous studies. Hill () finds that no AYC exemption increases the full‐time work of single mothers by 23 percentage points more than the increases from an AYC exemption of 12 months or longer. Washbrook et al () report that long AYC exemptions reduce maternal work at or before 4 months by 7 percentage points, which continues to be the case until 9 months after birth.…”

“…Although five previous papers have examined the AYC exemption (Hill 2012;Herbst 2017;Hofferth et al 2002Hofferth et al , 2005Washbrook et al 2011), none to date have examined the pregnancy exemption. Using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, Hofferth et al (2002Hofferth et al ( , 2005 evaluate both the policies that require work and their associations with welfare exit behavior.…”

Financial incentives to work: A quasi‐experimental analysis of in‐work cash benefits for single mothers

“…The first was a 'before-after' analysis using a difference-in-differences (DID) approach. The DID technique is commonly used to study welfare and other policies (e.g., Hill, 2012;Meyer & Rosenbaum, 2001;Rønsen & Skarðhamar, 2009). The second was a regression analysis.…”

Are Parental Welfare Work Requirements Good for Disadvantaged Children? Evidence From Age‐of‐Youngest‐Child Exemptions

“…To my knowledge, two published papers examine the impact of AYCEs, only one of which considers direct measures of child development. Hill () uses the June Current Population Survey between 1998 and 2008 to examine the relationship between states’ exemptions and the employment of new mothers. The author finds that mothers exposed to AYCEs of 12 or more months are less likely to work full‐time than those not exposed to an exemption.…”

“…More broadly, this paper is relevant to the large literature evaluating the influence of other safety‐net programs—including the Earned Income Tax Credit; Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program; Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program; and Medicaid—on children's short‐ and long‐run health, education, and labor market outcomes (Bitler & Currie, ; Dahl & Lochner, ; Hoynes, Miller, & Simon, ; Hoynes, Schanzenbach, & Almond, ; Miller & Wherry, ; Rossin‐Slater, ). Given the similarities between AYCEs and maternity leave policies, this analysis is also germane to the literature analyzing the effect of leave‐taking on mothers’ post‐birth employment as well as child well‐being (Hill, ; Rossin, ; Rossin‐Slater, Ruhm, & Waldfogel, ).…”