Report Does California’s Welfare Policy Explain the Slower Decline of Its Caseload? By Thomas E. MaCurdy, Margaret O’Brien-Strain, David C. Mancuso Jan 1, 2002 Since Congress enacted welfare reform in 1996, states have had more flexibility in designing their own welfare programs. With this flexibility has come an increased interest in accountability at the state level. Although California’s caseload rate fell 43 percent between 1996 and 2000, that decline lags the national average. This report examines the variation in recipiency rates among the five largest states both before and after the welfare reforms of 1996. Its authors find that between 1989 and 1996, economic and demographic factors accounted for most of the variation in welfare recipiency rates; after 1996, however, policy decisions at the state level were the most important factor in explaining caseload variations.
press release Multi State Employer Survey Finds Robust Demand For Welfare Recipients That Could Disappear In Downturn Jan 25, 2001
press release Surprising Surge In “Child-Only” Cases Slows Decline In California’s Welfare Rolls Jun 22, 2000
Report The Rise and Fall of California’s Welfare Caseload: Types and Regions, 1980-1999 By Thomas E. MaCurdy, Margaret O’Brien-Strain, David C. Mancuso Jun 1, 2000 In the years following welfare reform, caseloads have declined considerably both in California and in the rest of the nation. Nationally, welfare participation has fallen 47 percent from its 1994 peak, yielding the lowest recipiency rate since 1970. However, participation has fallen by only 30 percent in California, placing it eighth from the bottom among U.S. states. This smaller decline results primarily from California's much higher participation rates before 1994. In this volume, the authors focus on four key factors (the economy, immigration, demographics, and welfare reform) and their influence over time on the three types of welfare cases: one-parent, two-parent, and child-only. The authors also identify important issues for consideration in the state's evolving welfare policies, including the ongoing economic challenges facing rural areas, the side effects of CalWORKs sanctions, and the effects of undocumented immigration.