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Preface
- Brookings Institution Press
- Chapter
- Additional Information
This book examines whether the work support system is an effective means of helping needy workers (including former welfare recipients) escape poverty and privation.We initiated the project in the late 1990s, following the implementation of federal welfare reform. Cash assistance welfare rolls had declined markedly, as former welfare recipients left for work or quietly went away. A bipartisan celebration broke out in Washington. Yet there was evidence suggesting that many former welfare recipients were struggling to make ends meet—they had left the welfare system to join the ranks of the working poor. Policymakers did not ignore the working poor. During the 1990s a series of policy reforms were enacted (at both the state and federal levels) to enhance various forms of government assistance for needy workers or their dependents. These“work supports”offered needy workers the opportunity to receive means-tested benefits while working. As welfare reform pushed people into the labor market, work supports pulled them in. However, little was known about the “system” of work supports. While there was evidence that needy workers could experience significant income gains if they received work supports, research also suggested that few needy workers did in fact receive work supports. When we initiated this project the federal government was flush with resources. In the late 1990s, the Congressional Budget Office was predicting a flood of black ink far into the future. For a brief period, people around Washington wondered how to best make use of the federal surplus. We saw the surplus as an opportunity to enhance the assistance provided to needy workers in order to complement and complete welfare reform. Times have changed. Slower economic growth, tax cuts, and an explosion of federal spending have created record federal budget deficits. We have responded by Preface vii 00-8191-1 FM 11/2/05 4:11 PM Page vii proposing reforms that reflect the current fiscal environment. Despite these limitations, we believe that the work support system has tremendous potential to assist needy workers and that opportunities exist to enhance the system’s effectiveness. We hope this project will contribute to that endeavor. Many people at the Brookings Institution Press made valuable contributions to this project. We would both like to thank Christopher Kelaher, Mary Kwak, and Tanjam Jacobson for their editorial assistance, and Susan Woollen for the cover design. We also thank the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and suggestions. Robert Stoker appreciates the support he received for this project as a policy research scholar at the George Washington Institute for Public Policy. Many of the faculty associated with the institute, including Joseph Cordes, Marcus Raskin, Clarence Stone, Michael Wiseman, and Harold Wolman, were encouraging and helpful. Cordes deserves special thanks for his patient tutorials on economics. Stoker also is grateful to George Washington University for the Dilthey Award, which provided summer support for this project. Laura Wilson would like to acknowledge the support she received from Norman Zucker of the University of Rhode Island and Robert Durant of American University. In addition, she would like to thank Larry Thomas and staff at the Schaefer Center for Public Policy at the University of Baltimore for their assistance. It is not possible to complete a project like this without the cooperation and support of loved ones. Our greatest debt is to our families: Pat, David, Greg, and Kate Stoker and Dean, Steven, and Justin Gentry. viii Preface 00-8191-1 FM 11/2/05 4:11 PM Page viii ...