Fewer on Welfare Does Not Mean Less Poverty,
April 2001

by Yolanda Arias

Poverty is not decreasing as quickly as the Temporary Aid to Needy Families (TANF) caseload rate is. That means that even though there are less people on welfare, people are not escaping poverty.

The Department of Public Social Services (DPSS) reports that the average starting wage for people who become employed is $6.34. A single mother would have to earn three times the minimum wage to support a family of three without public assistance. Since the starting wage is $6.34, a single mother has to triple her earnings to reach a living wage.

A study by the Economic Roundtable cites a few key points related to whether a person can raise her earning potential:

• Whether the person can speak English
• How much education the person has

Whether a person can speak English and has more than just secondary education will determine whether that person will be able to advance and earn more money. A few of the concerns that advocates have raised with the Department of Public Social Services is whether people who don't speak English have adequate access to English as a Second Language classes.

Also, advocates have voiced concerns with DPSS that the assessment which determines a person's educational and training needs comes too late in the process to be helpful or it doesn't happen at all. A person who is employed may not get the benefit of education and/or training and may get stuck in a low paying job with no opportunity for advancement.

Post employment training is supposed to be provided to CalWORKS participants who are employed but the referral process to get this to happen is slow and parents who are busy with family and working in dead end jobs sometimes can not take advantage of post employment services. Training providers have complained for months that they have only received a dribble of referrals of CalWORKS participants to training programs. DPSS is aware of these problems and has mentioned the possibility of changing where in the process and how assessments are done.

The goal of welfare to work should not be only getting people off welfare and into jobs, but into jobs that provide a living wage. That means providing welfare recipients with the education, training and supportive services they need to become self-sufficient. We do not, at the moment, have a welfare-to-work program that operates efficiently to help participants reach a living wage. But advocates, the private sector, community groups, DPSS and other government agencies are working on getting there.

Yolanda Arias is the Directing Attorney of the Government Benefits unit at the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles.

Originally published in the LAFLA newsletter, LAFLA Matters, Feb-Mar 2000

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