Barriers to Employment Among TANF Applicants and Their Consequences for Self-Sufficiency

This article examines the prevalence of potential barriers to employment using data from a longitudinal study of 1,075 Milwaukee County parents who applied for assistance from Wisconsin’s TANF program in 1999. It also examines whether those potential barriers were related to their subsequent employment and earnings. We find that many of these TANF applicants faced significant and often multiple barriers to employment. Moreover, these potential barriers were associated with both a reduction in their likelihood of being employed and lower earnings when they worked. The implications of these findings for welfare policy and practice are discussed. CRITICAL ISSUES IN WELFARE REFORM AND WORK READINESS This article is part of the "Working But Poor: Next Steps for Social Work Strategies and Collaborations" special issue of Families in Society with guest editor Sondra J. Fogel. www.familiesinsociety.org Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Social Services | www.familiesinsociety.org | DOI: 10.1606/1044-3894.3647 ©2007 Alliance for Children and Families recipients whose families had exited welfare). On average, 71% of the TANF leavers were ever employed during the first 4 quarters after exiting; nearly one-third never worked at all. Moreover, most of those who worked did not have stable employment; on average, only 57% were employed in a given quarter, and just 37% were employed in all four quarters. Loprest (2001) also analyzed data from former welfare recipients in the Urban Institute’s 1997 and 1999 National Survey of America’s Families (NSAF). Sixty-one percent of the 1997 former welfare recipients and 64% of the 1999 former recipients reported that they were currently employed. In other words, nearly 40% of the preTANF welfare leavers and more than a third of the post-TANF welfare leavers did not have a job. As these findings suggest, many TANF recipients have not been able to become and remain employed. Why this has been the case is the subject of a growing body of research. This article contributes to that literature by examining the prevalence of potential barriers to employment among a sample of parents from Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, who applied for TANF assistance in 1999 as well as the relationship between those potential barriers and subsequent employment and earnings. We find that many of these TANF applicants faced significant and often multiple potential barriers to employment and that these potential barriers were related to their employment and earnings. We believe that our findings have implications for welfare policy and practice. Before turning to our study, we review the prior research on barriers to employment among welfare recipients. Prior Research on Potential Barriers to Employment Much has been written about the prevalence of potential barriers to employment among current and former TANF recipients. For example, Hauan and Douglas (2004) synthesized the results of TANF caseload studies in five states (i.e., Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, South Carolina, and Missouri) plus the District of Columbia. Across the six studies, the most common barriers were not having a high school diploma or GED (40%), child care problems (34%), mental health problems (31%), caring for a child with special needs (29%), and transportation problems (27%). Limited work experience (22%), unstable housing (22%), and physical health problems (21%) were also fairly common. Other studies have also examined the prevalence of potential barriers to employment among TANF recipients and leavers. The most common barriers include not having a high school diploma or GED, limited or no prior work experience, physical or mental health problems, and having a child with special needs (Danziger et al., 2000; Polit, London, & Martinez, 2001; Rangarajan & Wood, 1999; Zedlewski, 1999; Zedlewski & Alderson, 2001a; Zedlewski & Alderson, 2001b; Zedlewski, 2003). Just how prevalent these barriers are is difficult to know. Estimates vary depending on the population that was studied and the measures that were used (e.g., yes/no questions, standardized instruments). What is clear from this research is that many current or former TANF recipients face at least one significant barrier to employment and that many face two or more (Danziger et al., 2000; Loprest & Zedlewski, 1999; Polit, London, & Martinez, 2001; Zedlewski, 1999; Zedlewski, 2003; Zedlewski & Alderson, 2001a; Zedlewski & Alderson, 2001b). Of course, what ultimately matters is not the prevalence of these potential barriers, but whether they have real consequences for employment. Some studies have addressed this question by examining the relationship between the number of barriers recipients faced and their likelihood of being employed. For example, both Loprest and Zedlewski (1999) and Danziger et al. (2000) found that current and former welfare recipients were less likely to be employed the more barriers they faced. Other studies have looked at the relationship between specific barriers to employment and the likelihood that TANF recipients would be employed. The evidence is strongest in the case of human capital. Both Huaun and Douglas (2004) and Danziger et al. (2000) reported that TANF recipients were more likely to be working if they had a high school diploma or GED, if they had recent work experience, or if they had performed a number of common tasks at a prior job. There is also evidence that TANF recipients who have problems with their physical or mental health are less likely to be employed than those without health problems (Huaun & Douglas, 2004; Danziger et al., 2000). By contrast, studies have generally not found significant differences in employment related to other potential barriers. Some studies have used multivariate models to look at the effects of specific barriers to employment after controlling for the effects of other barriers (as well as other factors that might be related to employment). Using this approach, Huaun and Douglas (2004) found negative relationships between employment and four barriers: low levels of education, limited work experience, physical (but not mental) health problems, and problems with child care. Danziger et al. (2000) used a similar approach and found that eight of the barriers they measured reduced the likelihood of being employed at least 20 hours per week: no high school diploma, little work experience, few job skills, perceived discrimination, transportation problems, depression, drug dependence and poor health. Like both of these earlier studies, we analyze the relationship between potential barriers and actual employment. However, our analysis is different in three important respects. First, we look at the ability of potential barriers to predict subsequent rather than current employment, thereby making our findings potentially more relevant to FAMILIES IN SOCIETY | Volume 88, No. 3