Welfare Reform

1
Welfare Reform

• What is welfare?
• Farm subsidies?
• Subsidies to colleges and universities?
• Tax credits (for mortgages, children, etc)
• Cash benefits?
• Food stamps? Unemployment Insurance?
• Bail outs of failing businesses?
• Social security? Medicare?

2
Extra Credit

• Remember Two ways, max 2 points each
• Clarification Concrete evidence/artifact of
  gender norms- include your written explanation of
  how the example you provide exemplifies social
  norms about gender and what the norm is
• Deadline for extra credit April 28 (Last day of
  class).
• Just because you hand something in, doesnt mean
  you get extra credit. You need to meet the
  criteria. Leaving it until the last minute means
  you will not have opportunity to fix your
  submission.

3
Welfare Programs

• Cash and in-kind assistance programs targeted to
  the poor
• Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)
• Food Stamps
• Section 8 Housing Assistance
• Women, Infants, and Children (WIC)

4
Policy History

• Big Bang of social spending in the U.S. is the
  New Deal adopted in 1935.
• Cross-national comparison Later than most
  welfare states, and subsequent expansion has been
  more limited than in other places
• US considered a laggard in social policy
• Newer scholarship points to development of
  widows veterans pensions after civil war

5
Policy History cntd

• Set a different path for U.S. welfare, driven by
  middle class women social reformers, not a strong
  labor movement
• Later developments preserve this pattern
• New Deal
• 5 of pop receiving benefits1971 backlash
• Few changes until Personal Responsibility Work
  Opportunity Reconciliation Act 1996

6
1996 Welfare Reform(PRWORA)

• Most Important Aspects of Welfare Reform
• switch from entitlement to block grant
• work-requirements
• time limits (lifetime limit of 5 years)
• new requirements for child support
• marriage promotion (family caps, penalties)
• cuts to food stamp program
• eliminated aid to legal and illegal immigrants
• increased funding for training and child care

7
Welfare Reform in 2004 Myths and Facts

• Race
• Most welfare families are African American
• Most welfare families are Hispanic
• African Americans and Hispanics are
  overrepresented on welfare rolls
• Family Size
• Most welfare families have large numbers of
  children
• Most welfare families have a larger than average
  family size

8
Facts or Myths?

• Most welfare recipients are not working
• Welfare recipients have low levels of education
• Most spells on welfare are long, more than ten
  years
• Welfare pays people an amount equivalent to the
  poverty line

9
Barriers Faced by Welfare Recipients

• Individual
• 50 to 75 victims of Domestic Violence
• Disability or caring for disabled person
• Young children and access to child care
• Education, Language Barriers and Literacy- 50 do
  not have a high school degree
• Drug and Alcohol Addiction
• Structural
• Features of low wage labor market
• Gender structure of labor market Discrimination

10
Poverty in the US

• US has highest degree of economic inequality
  among OECD nations
• Highest rate of poverty
• Policies do least to alleviate poverty
• Poverty Line History
• Compare to basic needs-you, family of 4
• Current poverty line 9, 827 per year 19,157
  for a family of four

11
Welfare (TANF) in Context

• Now benefits less than 2 of population
• Comprises about 1 of fed budget

12
Poverty Rates

• Overall 12.5 35.9 million people
• Non-Hispanic whites 8.2
• Black 24.4
• Hispanic 23
• Single men 18
• Single women 23
• Female single parents 28
• Male single parents 13
• Married couples 5.4