title: Family Economic Well-Being Following the 1996 Welfare Reform: Trend Data from Five Non-Experimental Panel Studies.
abstract: This analysis summarizes trends in family economic well-being from five non-experimental, longitudinal welfare-to-work studies launched following the passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA). The studies include a sizable group of parents and other caregivers who received TANF at the point of sample selection or shortly thereafter, and share a wide range of similar measures of economic well-being. This analysis provides descriptive information on how these families are faring over time. Our results confirm what has been found by previous studies. Many families remain dependent on public benefits, and are either poor or near-poor, despite gains in some indicators of economic well-being. We caution that these aggregate statistics may mask important heterogeneity among families.
authors.affiliation: University of Wisconsin-Madison.
authors.forename: Kristen Shook
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Slack
authors.affiliation: University of Wisconsin-Madison.
authors.forename: Katherine
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Magnuson
authors.affiliation: University of Wisconsin-Madison.
authors.forename: Lawrence
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Berger
authors.affiliation: Columbia University.
authors.forename: Joan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yoo
authors.affiliation: Boston College.
authors.forename: Rebekah Levine
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Coley
authors.affiliation: Cornell University.
authors.forename: Rachel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Dunifon
authors.affiliation: Chapin Hall Center for Children, University of Chicago.
authors.forename: Amy
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dworsky
authors.affiliation: University of Chicago.
authors.forename: Ariel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kalil
authors.affiliation: Princeton University.
authors.forename: Jean
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Knab
authors.affiliation: Iowa State University.
authors.forename: Brenda J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Lohman
authors.affiliation: University of Texas at Austin.
authors.forename: Cynthia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Osborne