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Summary

The WRP created a work requirement for single parents and for two-parent families with a disabled or unemployed parent receiving cash assistance. It also provided financial incentives to work, with a goal of encouraging employment and reducing reliance on welfare.

The WRP was one of the demonstration projects made possible by Section 1115 waivers to the rules in effect at the time for the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program. These Section 1115 waivers allowed states to test new approaches to advance the objectives of the AFDC program.

The WRP placed work requirements on parents after 15 months (for two-parent families with an unemployed parent) or 30 months (for single-parent families and two-parent families with a disabled parent) of receiving cash assistance. Immediately upon enrolling in the WRP, two-parent families with an unemployed parent were enrolled in Reach Up (Vermont’s voluntary welfare-to-work program), through which they received case management and participated in job search activities. The WRP placed these participants in subsidized minimum-wage community service employment (CSE) if they were unemployed after receiving cash assistance for 15 months. If single parents and two-parent families with a disabled parent did not obtain unsubsidized employment on their own within 28 months of receiving cash assistance, the primary earner parent was required to participate in job search activities. If that parent remained unemployed after receiving cash assistance for 30 months, he or she was placed in subsidized CSE.

The WRP also provided financial incentives to work. For example, the WRP allowed participants to earn more and have more of certain assets without losing eligibility for assistance. All participants were subject to these rule changes upon entry into the WRP. Families that transitioned from welfare for work were eligible for expanded support from Medicaid and transitional child care assistance.

If participants did not comply with the work requirement, the state limited their use of the cash assistance grant and required the parent to attend meetings at the welfare office. The WRP did not place a time limit on receipt of cash assistance. Cash assistance applicants and current recipients were eligible for the WRP. While the program was implemented in all 12 of Vermont's welfare districts, the study focused on 6 of these regions. The evaluation of the WRP also tested the effectiveness of a variation of the WRP that included work incentives but no work requirement, as well as a comparison of the WRP and the incentives-only variation.

1081.1081.08-Welfare Restructurin
Populations and employment barriers: Cash assistance recipients, Parents
1081.1081.05-Welfare Restructurin
Populations and employment barriers: Unemployed, Parents
1081.1081.02-Welfare Restructurin
Populations and employment barriers: Parents, Single parents

Effectiveness rating and effect by outcome domain

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Outcome domain Term Effectiveness rating Effect in 2018 dollars and percentages Effect in standard deviations Sample size
Increase earnings Short-term Little evidence to assess support favorable $648 per year 0.031 5698
Long-term Supported favorable $628 per year 0.030 6478
Very long-term Little evidence to assess support favorable $502 per year 0.024 2102
Increase employment Short-term Supported favorable 3% (in percentage points) 0.062 5698
Long-term Supported favorable 5% (in percentage points) 0.121 6478
Very long-term Supported favorable 3% (in percentage points) 0.074 8942
Decrease benefit receipt Short-term Not supported unfavorable $6 per year 0.002 5698
Long-term Not supported unfavorable $88 per year 0.032 6941
Very long-term Little evidence to assess support unfavorable $22 per year 0.008 2102
Increase education and training All measurement periods No evidence to assess support
* This intervention was assessed as supported for this domain, meaning it achieved one or more statistically significant, favorable effects. However, the intervention has an average effect size that is unfavorable because the average includes all effects in this domain - both statistically significant and favorable effects and statistically insignificant but unfavorable effects.

Effectiveness rating key:

  • Well-supported Well-supported   
  • Supported  Supported   
  • Not supported  Not supported   
  • Mixed support  Mixed support   
  • Insufficient evidence  Insufficient evidence   
  • No evidence  No evidence
Effectiveness rating terms?

Studies of this intervention

Study quality rating Study counts per rating
High High 3
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Implementation details

Dates covered by study

The WRP provided services to participants from July 1994 to June 2001. The study randomly assigned cash assistance applicants and existing recipients from July 1994 to December 1996. Participant impacts were measured for six years after random assignment.

Organizations implementing intervention

The Vermont Department of Social Welfare (DSW), later called the Department of Prevention, Assistance, Transition, and Health Access, implemented the WRP.

Populations served

The WRP served single- and two-parent families applying for or receiving cash assistance welfare. Participation was mandatory.

Of participants in single-parent families, 93 percent were female, and the average age was 31. Seventy-three percent held high school diplomas or GEDs. Of the single-parent families, 89 percent had at least one child younger than age 13, and 37 percent had a child younger than age 3.

The study did not discuss the overall demographic statistics of two-parent families. However, it did present statistics for two-parent families with a disabled parent, which showed that the parents in 87 percent of such families were married. Of two-parent families with a disabled parent, 83 percent had at least one child younger than age 13 and 30 percent had a child younger than age 3.

Description of services implemented

The WRP was created under the federal Section 1115 waivers to test new approaches to achieving AFDC’s goals. The WRP aimed to encourage work and increase self-sufficiency for individuals receiving cash assistance welfare through financial incentives and work requirements. Both single-parent and two-parent families were eligible for cash assistance regardless of their recent work history. Unmarried families that lived and had a child together were treated as a family unit. The WRP did not have a time limit for cash assistance, and participants’ cash assistance was not reduced or denied if they did not comply. Features included the following:

Financial incentives

  • Enhanced earnings disregard: The first $150 of a participant’s earnings, plus 25 percent of remaining earnings, was not considered in determining benefit eligibility.

  • Asset limits: Participants could own a car of any value without it counting toward asset limits that might make a family ineligible for benefits, which allowed participants the opportunity to have reliable transportation.

  • Child support: Custodian parents received the full child support payments, rather than receiving only the first $50 a month and the state keeping the remainder. Payments less than $50 were not counted as income so were not counted against their cash assistance benefits.

  • Medicaid: Participants received transitional Medicaid coverage for three years and child care subsidies for one year if their family income did not exceed 80 percent of the Vermont median income.

Work requirements

  • Single-parent family requirements: The WRP required single-parent families receiving cash assistance for 30 months to work; however, participants with children younger than age 13 only had to work part time. At 28 months of receiving cash assistance, single-parent families were required to participate in Reach Up, Vermont’s welfare-to-work program. Reach Up participants attended job search classes once or twice a week for eight weeks and received case management.

  • Two-parent family requirements: The WRP required two-parent families with able-bodied adults to participate in Reach Up immediately and to search for and accept employment. At 15 months of receiving cash assistance, two-parent families were required to work full time. The WRP required two-parent families with a disabled parent to follow the same work requirements as single-parent families.

  • Community service employment: Participants in Reach Up who were not able to find unsubsidized employment were placed in minimum-wage CSE. Reach Up placed participants in CSE for 10 months before placing them in another CSE if they did not find unsubsidized employment.

  • Additional policies for noncompliance: Participants who did not work in unsubsidized employment or a CSE were required to attend three meetings in the welfare assistance office each month. The state did not close participants’ cases but instead used their cash assistance grant to pay their bills.

Challenges. Confirming whether participants were working once required was a challenge because participants’ employment was often dynamic.

Service intensity

Each CSE placement was ten months and there was no maximum amount of CSE placements.

Single-parent families received 29 months of cash assistance on average over a six-year period. Fifty-five percent of single-parent families in the WRP participated in an employment-related activity in the six-year follow-up period.

Fewer participants were in CSE than expected. Three percent of single-parent families and 4 percent of two-parent families worked in CSE in the six-year follow-up period. This was because participants received cash assistance for fewer than 30 months or were able to find unsubsidized employment.

Comparison conditions

Individuals who were randomly assigned to the comparison group were subject to Vermont’s existing AFDC program, which meant they could receive cash assistance without a work requirement or financial incentives to work.

Partnerships

The Vermont Department of Employment and Training (DET) operated Reach Up job search classes, developed CSE positions, and placed participants in CSE positions.

Staffing

Eligibility specialists and family services case managers provided services at DSW. Staff at DET provided Reach Up services. The study authors did not include information on the number of staff or their training, degrees, or certifications.

Fidelity measures

The study did not discuss any tools to measure fidelity to the intervention model.

Funding source

DSW and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services funded the intervention, with DSW funding case management and local providers funding employment and training services.

Cost information

The average cost per participant was $16,843 in 2018 dollars.

This figure is based on cost information reported by authors of the study or studies the Pathways Clearinghouse reviewed for this intervention. The Pathways Clearinghouse converted that information to a single amount expressed in 2018 dollars; for details, see the FAQ. Where there are multiple studies of an intervention rated high or moderate quality, the Pathways Clearinghouse computed the average of costs reported across those studies.

Cost information is not directly comparable across interventions due to differences in the categories of costs reported and the amount of time interventions lasted. Cost information is not an official price tag or guarantee.

The information contained here reflects how the intervention was implemented at the time of the evaluation.

Local context

While WRP was implemented statewide, the evaluation focused on 6 of Vermont’s 12 welfare districts. The welfare districts in the study included about two-thirds of Vermont’s cash assistance caseload.

Characteristics of research participants

The race and ethnicity categories may sum to more than 100 percent if the authors reported race and ethnicity separately; in these cases, we report the category White, rather than White, not Hispanic.

State(s) where implemented

AL AK AZ AR CA CO CT DE DC FL GA HI ID IL IN IA KS KY LA ME MD MA MI MN MS MO MT NE NV NH NJ NM NY NC ND OH OK OR PA RI SC SD TN TX UT VT VA WA WV WI WY Canada

The Pathways Clearinghouse refers to interventions by the names used in study reports or manuscripts. Some intervention names may use language that is not consistent with our style guide, preferences, or the terminology we use to describe populations.

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