Use of Unemployment Insurance and Employment Services by Newly Unemployed Leavers from Temporary Assistance for Needy Families

Use of Unemployment Insurance and Employment Services by Newly Unemployed Leavers from Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
Author: Christopher J. O'Leary
Publisher:
Total Pages: 216
Release: 2009
Genre: Public welfare
ISBN:

This study examines participation in Unemployment Insurance (UI) and Employment Services (ES) by adults who received cash welfare benefits through Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). Among those who leave TANF for employment the study measures the rates of subsequent unemployment, application for UI, eligibility for and receipt of UI benefits, and the use of Wagner-Peyser funded ES. The study also investigates the correlations between UI and ES services receipt with reemployment and future independence from TANF. The analysis is based on person-level administrative program records from four of the nine most populated states [Florida, Georgia, Michigan, and Ohio] between 1997 and 2003. Evidence suggests that three-quarters of new TANF leavers experience unemployment within three years, and one-quarter of the newly unemployed apply for UI benefits. About 87 percent of UI applicants have sufficient prior earnings to qualify for benefits. However, only about 44 percent qualify based on their reasons for job separation. Among UI applicants, TANF leavers had much higher rates of voluntary quits and employer dismissals than did non-TANF leavers. Nevertheless, 50 percent of TANF leavers who apply for UI ultimately receive benefits. Public ES are used by one-quarter of newly unemployed TANF leavers. More than three-quarters of UI applicants use the ES whether they receive UI benefits or not, while 14 percent of newly unemployed TANF leavers who do not apply for UI choose to use ES services. Among TANF leavers who become unemployed and apply for UI, the rate of return to TANF is lower for those who receive UI benefits. Rates of return to TANF are highest among non-beneficiary UI applicants, and non-UI applicants with low recent earnings. A characteristics analysis of these groups provides a guide for targeting job retention and advancement services to TANF leavers.

The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Block Grant

The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Block Grant
Author: Gene Falk
Publisher:
Total Pages: 90
Release: 2008
Genre: Political Science
ISBN:

The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant provides federal grants to states for a wide range of benefits, services, and activities. It is best known for helping states pay for cash welfare for needy families with children, but it funds a wide array of additional activities. TANF was created in the 1996 welfare reform law (P.L. 104-193). TANF funding and program authority were extended through FY2010 by the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (DRA, P.L. 109-171). TANF provides a basic block grant of $16.5 billion to the 50 states and District of Columbia, and $0.1 billion to U.S. territories. Additionally, 17 states qualify for supplemental grants that total $319 million. TANF also requires states to contribute from their own funds at least $10.4 billion for benefits and services to needy families with children -- this is known as the maintenance-of-effort (MOE) requirement. States may use TANF and MOE funds in any manner "reasonably calculated" to achieve TANF's statutory purpose. This purpose is to increase state flexibility to achieve four goals: (1) provide assistance to needy families with children so that they can live in their own homes or the homes of relatives; (2) end dependence of needy parents on government benefits through work, job preparation, and marriage; (3) reduce out-of-wedlock pregnancies; and (4) promote the formation and maintenance of two-parent families. Though TANF is a block grant, there are some strings attached to states' use of funds, particularly for families receiving "assistance" (essentially cash welfare). States must meet TANF work participation standards or be penalised by a reduction in their block grant. The law sets standards stipulating that at least 50% of all families and 90% of two-parent families must be participating, but these statutory standards are reduced for declines in the cash welfare caseload. (Some families are excluded from the participation rate calculation.) Activities creditable toward meeting these standards are focused on work or are intended to rapidly attach welfare recipients to the workforce; education and training is limited. Federal TANF funds may not be used for a family with an adult that has received assistance for 60 months. This is the five-year time limit on welfare receipt. However, up to 20% of the caseload may be extended beyond the five years for reason of "hardship", with hardship defined by the states. Additionally, states may use funds that they must spend to meet the TANF MOE to aid families beyond five years. TANF work participation rules and time limits do not apply to families receiving benefits and services not considered "assistance". Child care, transportation aid, state earned income tax credits for working families, activities to reduce out-of-wedlock pregnancies, activities to promote marriage and two-parent families, and activities to help families that have experienced or are "at risk" of child abuse and neglect are examples of such "nonassistance".

The Public Employment Service in the United States

The Public Employment Service in the United States
Author: OECD
Publisher: OECD Publishing
Total Pages: 227
Release: 2000-03-16
Genre:
ISBN: 9264181431

This publication provides an in-depth look at the public employment service and recent policy initiatives in the United States. Areas of concern about recent reforms are outlined and options for making policies more effective are presented.

Publications ...

Publications ...
Author: United States. Social Security Administration
Publisher:
Total Pages: 32
Release: 1945
Genre:
ISBN:

Public Finance and Public Policy

Public Finance and Public Policy
Author: Jonathan Gruber
Publisher: Macmillan
Total Pages: 806
Release: 2005
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780716786559

Chapters include: "Income distribution and welfare programs", "State and local government expenditures" and "Health economics and private health insurance".

Unemployment Insurance Reform

Unemployment Insurance Reform
Author: David E. Balducchi
Publisher: W.E. Upjohn Institute
Total Pages: 247
Release: 2018-09-11
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0880996528

The Unemployment Insurance (UI) system is a lasting piece of the Social Security Act which was enacted in 1935. But like most things that are over 80 years old, it occasionally needs maintenance to keep it operating smoothly while keeping up with the changing demands placed upon it. However, the UI system has been ignored by policymakers for decades and, say the authors, it is broken, out of date, and badly in need of repair. Stephen A. Wandner pulls together a group of UI researchers, each with decades of experience, who describe the weaknesses in the current system and propose policy reforms that they say would modernize the system and prepare us for the next recession.

The Unequal Unemployed

The Unequal Unemployed
Author: Maura Sheehan
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 178
Release: 2018-12-21
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0429775784

First published in 1999, this volume is about unemployment and discrimination, with a focus on Northern Ireland and its debate over patterns of inequality between unemployed Catholics and Protestants. The Unequal Unemployed uses the important and revealing context of Northern Ireland to review the international debate on discrimination and the role of unemployment within it. This intellectual and political debate, active throughout the past decade, represents a conflict between: a) The traditional view that unequal unemployment is evidence of labour market discrimination against minorities and other distinct social groupings. b) Recent models which explain unemployment either in terms of individual responsibility or innate inferiority and attack the 'equal opportunities industry for its attempts at social engineering. Maura Sheehan and Mike Tomlinson approach these theories using unique survey evidence, gathered through a comprehensive evaluation of anti-discrimination policy. They contradict the view that differences in unemployment between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland are the result of personal attitudes and 'religious culture'. The book demonstrates that unequal unemployment arises from various discriminatory structures and practices - all of which are amenable to policy intervention. However, while more radical measures may achieve change, these must be developed within a policy framework which stimulates labour demand and economic development. Such a framework is constrained by the continuing political conflict within Northern Ireland.