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This study is a preliminary examination of the impact of specialized benefits counseling on Social Security Administration disability beneficiaries in Vermont. Beneficiaries (N = 672) who received specialized benefits counseling were compared with matched contemporaneous and historical controls over four years, two years before and two years after the initiation of the intervention. Although all three groups showed improved earnings over time, the participants who received specialized benefits counseling achieved significantly greater improvements in earnings than the two comparison groups; the difference in adjusted average earnings increased more than $225 per quarter in the first comparison, and more than $190 per quarter in the second. Specialized benefits counseling appears to be an important intervention for Social Security Administration disability beneficiaries served by the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation., A major reason for the high unemployment rate among Social Security Administration (SSA) disability beneficiaries is fear and misunderstanding about the impact of employment on their benefits (United States General [...]

This article examines employer demand for welfare recipients using new employer survey data. The results suggest that demand is high but sensitive to business cycle conditions. Factors including skill needs and industry affect prospective employer demand for recipients, while other characteristics that affect their relative supply to employers (e.g., establishment location) influence whether such demand is realized in actual hiring. The conditional demand for black and Hispanic welfare recipients lags behind their representation in the welfare population and seems affected by employers' location and indicators of preferences. Thus, many demand-side factors limit the employment options of welfare recipients, especially minorities.

In Europe, older women are more likely than older men to be living in poverty, and the contrast is directly related to their domestic roles and labour market position during earlier phases of their life courses. Despite Sweden's well-developed social security system, the generalisation applies to its older women. This paper examines the current incomes and life courses of 14 middle-aged and older Swedish women who have periodically had to rely on social assistance. Their circumstances and living conditions are considered in relation to their earlier lives and to the contextual conditions of the country's welfare state. Both life course and feminist perspectives are applied. All the interviewed women had been the main carers of their children, and had worked part-time or in low-paid jobs. Their formal employment histories have been the foundation of their vulnerable economic situation in older age, which the Swedish social security system does little to combat. Unless the bases and assumptions of the social security model are changed, there will continue to be many older women who live a life of poverty or near poverty. KEY WORDS--social assistance, poverty, life course, older women, middle-aged women, vulnerability.

This paper uses longitudinal data on nearly 500 minority mothers living in an inner-city neighborhood of Chicago to study the role of illicit drugs as a potential barrier to economic self-sufficiency. The analysis employs information collected during the last trimester of pregnancy and one year after the birth of the child. Logit regressions that control for a rich set of human capital and demographic characteristics reveal that illicit drug use in the months before the pregnancy is associated with a large increase in the likelihood of welfare reliance one year later. Other models, focusing on a drug addiction problem as measured by very frequent drug use before the pregnancy or any use during the pregnancy, yield even more pronounced effects, a result that is robust to a different specification that treats this variable as endogenous.

This article examines the factors related to households that choose to take advantage of the Individual Development Accounts as a vehicle out of poverty. The authors, analyzing a survey conducted in seven Ohio counties of 111 households, conclude that households that have two wage earners and have a higher level of education are more likely to participate in the IDA program.

This article addresses the stereotype of welfare recipients as young, single, undereducated women with children. The authors conducted a survey of random individuals in Georgia collecting Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and conclude that only a small sample fit the stereotype, while others collected TANF due to health problems, limited retirement assets, and weak labor markets.

This article examines the relationship between disability, generation and social policy. The moral and legislative framework for the post-war welfare settlement was grounded in a long-standing cultural construction of 'normal' life course progression. Disability and age (along with gender) were the key components in this construction, defining broad categories of welfare dependency and labour force exemption. However, social changes and the emergence of new policy discourses have brought into question the way in which we think about dependency and welfare at the end of the twentieth century. The article suggests that, as policy-makers pursue their millennial settlement with mothers, children and older people, they also may be forced to reconstruct the relationship between disabled people and the welfare state.

Research reveals that Mexican and Asian immigrants use public assistance more than native-born Americans. Studies were based on findings from the Survey of Income and Program Participation.

This article examines the relationship between non-marital birth rates and welfare benefits distribution. Topics include demographic aspects of welfare recipients and the moral and ethical aspects of premarital sex.

This paper examines the demographic and economic characteristics of single-father families, with particular attention to public transfer receipt. Cohabiting and non-cohabiting single fathers are examined and compared to fathers in married-couple families. Estimates from the 1997 March, Current Population Survey (CPS) are featured. Selected trend data for 1984, 1989, and 1996 are also presented. The analyses show that single fathers earn substantially less than married fathers, have lower household incomes, are less educated, and are substantially more likely to be receiving public transfers. Further, the socioeconomic gap between single and married fathers has been increasing since 1984.

Research shows relatively few single men move to states to increase their General Assistance (GA) levels. People seeking government benefits appear to be interested in quality of life issues other than money.

This article discusses the relationship between fertility and Aid to Families with Dependent Children benefits distribution. An analysis of birth order and family policy is presented.

INTRODUCTION Welfare "as we know it" ended in 1996,(1) a victim of a conservatism that views welfare recipients as lazy and immoral. One aspect of welfare that is, however, unlikely [...]

The relationship between population density and welfare participation is a low research area in demographic studies. The study uses the Panel Study of Income Dynamics from 1976-81 to explore the above area. It finds that geographic factors as well as individual characteristics are important in the use or nonuse of welfare contributions, especially the food stamp programme. More people in urban areas participate in the food stamp programme because access is easy due to the availiabilty of information and user intraction which abolishes the stigma attached to claiming welfare.

This article addresses the paradox of rural and urban differences in poverty and welfare participation. That is, the poverty rate in rural America is higher than that found in urban America, yet the rural poor are less likely to use welfare. Results from an analysis of all U.S. counties indicate that population density is a major factor influencing participation in public assistance. Controlling for population compositional differences across counties, we find that residents in communities with lower population densities participate in welfare programs to a lesser extent. This study identifies possible explanations for this density effect.

This article analyzes differences in welfare and labor market participation among white, African-American, and Hispanic welfare recipients in Riverside, California. In the absence of a welfare-to-work program intervention, African Americans and Hispanics worked as much or more than whites but were less likely to leave welfare. This might be explained in part by their lower marriage and cohabitation rates and, perhaps, by less financial assistance from social networks and child support. Even with the help of a well-run program, about half of welfare recipients relied on welfare after 2 years, and African Americans and Hispanics remained overrepresented in the welfare population.

Using a random sample of African-American adolescent girls in impoverished urban neighborhoods in Chicago, we consider income-related predictors (poverty, financial strain, welfare receipt, and welfare exposure) of adolescents' job preparation and nonmarital childbearing risk. Maternal financial strain is the most consistent predictor, linked to poor school performance and greater sexual experience. Maternal welfare receipt predicts higher school grades in youth, but welfare exposure from broader social networks is related to lower grades and greater pregnancy experience. We discuss the implications for families as federal welfare reforms alter the income sources and financial situations of many poor families.

This article discusses the history of immigration, ethnicity, and racism by focusing on its impact on British history. Topics include welfare, xenophobia, and an analysis of immigration and asylum law.

The extent to which levels of welfare receipt for immigrants and natives are sensitive to the use of household-, family- or individual units of analysis or presentation was studied using data from the 1990 and 1991 panels of the Survey of Income and Program Participation. Results showed that nativity differences are statistically significant only at the level of larger units. It was also shown that if immigrants and natives had identical living arrangements, immigrants' household-level receipt of Supplemental Security Income would exceed natives' receipt even more than it actually does.