Welfare, Work and Material Hardship in Single Parent and Other Households

Recent changes to programs of income support for the poor have focused attention on how work requirements and incentives affect earnings and employment of welfare recipients. The predominant way of thinking of these issues, at least In broader political discourse, assumes that obtaining work or improving wages are desirable goals for welfare recipients and their families. However, recent research has begun to suggest that single parents and their families are not always better off In the labor force. This paper uses the 1991 and 1992 panels of the Survey of Income and Program Participation to examine welfare, work and well-being in a broader context. The paper finds an apparent advantage of work over welfare for most households, but not for single parent households. In addition, material hardship is found to have strong effects on subsequent labor market participation and welfare use.