
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, July 9, 1995                   TAG: 9507100097
SECTION: NATL/INTL                    PAGE: A-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

STUDY: WORK PROGRAMS CUT ASSISTANCE COSTS

Welfare-to-work programs that place a strong emphasis on finding immediate employment for welfare recipients can lower public assistance costs by 22 percent, according to a new study of job-training programs in three states.

The study, which examined efforts in Grand Rapids, Mich.; Riverside, Calif.; and Atlanta, found that after two years, participants in these programs were 24 percent more likely to be employed than those in a control group. Also, the programs had reduced welfare caseloads by 16 percent, researchers found.

The study, conducted by the Manpower Demonstration Research Corp. for the federal government, comes as Congress debates welfare legislation that would limit payments to five years and force millions of recipients to take jobs.

The research focused on the so-called JOBS programs created under the 1988 Family Support Act, which would be abolished under the legislation approved by the House and largely retained under the bill approved by the Senate Finance Committee.

Clinton administration officials, who last year proposed a welfare plan that built on the JOBS program, cited the study as proof that such efforts are necessary.

``This is the strongest evidence to date that well-designed and well-implemented welfare-to-work efforts can reduce welfare costs and move welfare recipients into the work force,'' said Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala in a statement.

Earlier studies of work programs in six California counties showed that payments under the Aid to Families with Dependent Children program could be reduced by 7 percent.

The new study found that programs emphasizing immediate employment are much more effective in reducing welfare costs than those placing recipients in longer-term education and training. Welfare costs dropped by 14 percent in programs that emphasized education and training, compared with the 22 percent figure for programs focused on immediate jobs.

Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, D-N.Y., who wrote the 1988 legislation, said in a statement that the study indicates the current strategy is working and ``it can significantly improve our welfare system if we stick with it.''

But Robert Rector, of the conservative Heritage Foundation, argued the research points out the ineffectiveness of the program: ``At best, they get a 16 percent reduction in caseload. This is scarcely ending welfare as we know it.''

by CNB