Work and Welfare Patterns in Low Income Families.

The study's objective were: (1) to describe the patterns of work and welfare experience in low-income families and to explain their causes, and (2) to apply the findings to the policy problem of deciding which groups of welfare recipients should be required to work and provided with what mix of manpower services. The effectiveness of work registration requirements was analyzed. The intention was to isolate the extent to which the welfare system itself causes job instability. The data sources were the Graduate Work Incentive (Negative Income Tax) Experiment and the Panel Study on Income Dynamics. The many findings are reported in terms of (1) work patterns, (2) the effects of welfare on work, and (3) welfare dependency. It was learned that those who can and cannot work are not easily distinguished on the basis of characteristics that could be specified. Labor market problems are not clearly linked with demographic characteristics. Overwhelmingly, males in the low-income population move from welfare to work on their own, and so, apparently, do most female heads of low-income families, over time. However, there is much movement from work to welfare, and little movement out of the low-income ranges. (Author/AJ)