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Source: Civic Report
Resulting in 1 citation.
1. O'Neill, June E.
Hill, M. Anne
Gaining Ground, Moving Up: The Change in the Economic Status of Single Mothers Under Welfare Reform
Civic Report 35, Center for Civic Innovation, Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, March 2003.
Also: http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/cr_35.htm
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Manhatten Institute
Keyword(s): Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC); Ethnic Differences; Fertility; Maternal Employment; Minimum Wage; Parents, Single; Poverty; Racial Differences; Welfare

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

In Section I, we examine poverty rates for single mothers and their families, before and after welfare reform. We find that poverty declined to record lows in the post-welfare reform period for all groups of single mothers, including those from racial and ethnic minorities and those with limited education who had sharply reduced their welfare participation from relatively high levels. Using panel data restricted to welfare leavers, we also find that poverty declined among single mothers who left welfare after welfare reform, and that a woman?s likelihood of being poor continued to decline with the passage of time. In short, the poverty data show that single mothers substantially increased their incomes by leaving welfare and going to work.

In Section II, we detail changes in the work participation of single mothers and find that both the percentage employed and the intensity of employment increased dramatically in the post-reform period. We update and expand our earlier analysis of the determinants of work participation to include additional variables (such as the Earned Income Tax Credit) and again find that welfare reform was the most important factor explaining the rise in employment in the post-reform years, accounting for more than 40% of the employment gains.

In Section III, we examine the annual and hourly earnings of all single mothers as well as those who left welfare. We find that single mothers, on average, earned $11.60 per hour in 2001, considerably more than the minimum wage. In fact, only 4% of working single mothers earned at or below the minimum; and even among those who are high school dropouts, only 8% were at or below the minimum. More importantly, we find that mothers who leave welfare, like workers generally, earn more per hour for each year they remain at work, and their hourly pay is further enhanced for each year they stay with the same employer.

Finally, in Section IV, we examine inflation-adjusted changes in total income and its components for single mother households from 1993?2000. We find that the gain from increased earnings far outweighed the loss in welfare benefits, resulting in a 29% rise in single mothers? own cash income between 1993 and 2000, even after averaging in those reporting zero cash income. Similar gains were experienced by single mothers at all levels, even those who had dropped out of high school.

Bibliography Citation
O'Neill, June E. and M. Anne Hill. "Gaining Ground, Moving Up: The Change in the Economic Status of Single Mothers Under Welfare Reform." Civic Report 35, Center for Civic Innovation, Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, March 2003.