Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, December 19, 1994 TAG: 9412190095
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KNIGHT-RIDDER/TRIBUNE
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
The report, by the General Accounting Office, said government bureaucrats measure the success of the welfare-to-work programs on the number of participants, rather than on the number who get jobs.
Researchers could not even determine how many people actually found employment through the JOBS program established under the 1988 Family Support Act - the last major attempt by the federal government at welfare reform.
``Some people desperately need education and training to find employment,'' said Gale Harris, GAO senior evaluator. ``But the program was not meant for perpetuate education and training. It's to prepare people for jobs.''
The report, coming just weeks before Congress tackles another welfare overhaul, highlights the difficult challenges of preparing welfare recipients for jobs. Congress is considering imposing a two-year limit on cash benefits to force more recipients to work.
All 50 states have established JOBS programs, designed to provide a broad range of education, training and employment activities. But only 11 percent of the 4 million welfare parents receiving monthly checks from 1991 through 1993 participated in the programs, said the GAO, an investigative arm of Congress.
More than half of adult recipients are exempt from work requirements under the $1 billion annual program, mostly because they are taking care of young children, the report says. About one-quarter of those required to participate do not.
``Some programs succeeded more than others, but none was able to move most program participants both into jobs and off [welfare] after three years,'' the report said.
The Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees welfare programs, called the GAO report ``too negative,'' saying it overlooks recent state reforms and accomplishments made despite a swell in the welfare rolls caused by the recent recession.
The 1988 reforms ``moved the welfare system from one focused on income to one that is concerned with the self-sufficiency of welfare recipients,'' wrote June Gibbs Brown, HHS inspector general. ``States strongly support the notion that employment is the ultimate goal of the JOBS program.''
The program needs to be refocused to establish links with businesses that can hire people and to work with participants on job searches, say federal researchers who interviewed state and county job-training officials.
Right now, the programs mostly serve the highly motivated, Harris said, and program directors worry about the onslaught to come.
``They don't have the capacity to serve those they are supposed to serve,'' she said. ``There is also the concern that those not in the program yet will have different needs. They may need more child care, have lower levels of motivation or drug dependencies.''
by CNB