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What if welfare had no work requirements? the age of youngest child exemption and the rise in employment of single mothers

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  • Jonathan F. Pingle

Abstract

The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 required states to increase welfare recipient employment and participation in welfare-to-work programs. These work requirements are sometimes credited for bringing about large employment increases among single mothers. However, this paper finds that employment among single mothers who were exempted from work requirements because they had young children rose as much as that of other single mothers. The results imply that the employment gains among single mothers in the late 1990s were due to economic growth and other policy changes rather than to the work requirements.

Suggested Citation

  • Jonathan F. Pingle, 2003. "What if welfare had no work requirements? the age of youngest child exemption and the rise in employment of single mothers," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2003-57, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedgfe:2003-57
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Karnit Flug & Nitsa Kasir (Kaliner), 2006. "The Single Parent Law, Labor Supply and Poverty," Israel Economic Review, Bank of Israel, vol. 4(1), pages 59-110.
    2. Herbst, Chris M., 2014. "Are Parental Welfare Work Requirements Good for Disadvantaged Children? Evidence from Age-of-Youngest-Child Exemptions," IZA Discussion Papers 8485, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

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