Leaving Poverty through Work: A Review of Current Development Strategies

Jobs are increasingly central to economic development, welfare reform, and urban policy. This emphasis on increasing employment among the poor comes at a time of stagnant wages for people with modest skills and no college education. The current movement to promote work poses a fundamental dilemma: How can the dependent poor obtain jobs that offer sufficient income and benefits to prevent them from becoming the working poor? This article assesses four contrasting policy approaches to move poor inner-city residents out of poverty through work. Although promising examples can be cited across the four strategies-job training, job creation through local economic development, worker mobility/access to jobs, and the federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)-all but the EITC are unable to provide sufficient wages to bring workers above the poverty line.