A major new national study was released by the Manhattan Institute on the impact of the 1996 welfare reform law on low-income families.
The report found an astonishing 20 percent drop in the poverty rate among single mothers between 1996 and 2001 -- a decrease that the researchers credit primarily to the effect of welfare reform in moving increasing numbers of recipients into the work force.
Conducted by economists June O'Neill and M. Anne Hill using Census data, the study made several other heartening findings:
- The employment rate among all single mothers rose to 82 percent in 2001, from 68 percent in 1992. Moreover, more than half of the single moms working in 2001 had worked full time the entire year.
- The average cash incomes of all single mothers rose 21 percent between 1995 and 2000, and total household income for women leaving welfare showed dramatic gains as well.
- Single mothers earned an average wage of $11.60 an hour in 2001, although the average wage of single mothers without a high school degree averaged approximately $8.00. Only 4 percent of working single mothers earned the minimum wage or less.
- And finally, work experience appears to translate into higher pay. The researchers found that for each year spent in the labor force, former recipients can expect a steady increase in real (inflation-adjusted) wages of about 2 percent per year.
To read the full study, click here