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Improving Work Supports: Using the Family Resource Simulator to Identify Problems and Test Solutions
Publication Date: March 2008
Publisher(s): Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law; Clearinghouse Review: Journal of Poverty Law and Policy
Author(s): Nancy K Cauthen; Kinsey Alden Dinan; John Bouman
Funder(s): John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
Funder(s): John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
Series: Vol. 41 No. 11-12
Special Collection: John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
Topic: Government (Public policy)
Government (Public services and utilities)
Labor (Labor policy)
Labor (Work and labor)
Social conditions (Public welfare and social services)
Keywords: Labor; State Government; Workforce; Low-Income Workers
Type: Report
Coverage: United States
Abstract:
Work support programs, such as tax credits and child care subsidies, help low-income workers enter and remain in the labor market. However, too often these programs are implemented haphazardly by states rather than as part of a comprehensive workforce strategy. Eligibility "cliffs" that result when a marginal increase in earnings leads to an even greater loss in work support benefits can cause a family's total resources to drop precipitously. A new Web-based tool, the Family Resource Simulator, can be used to calculate the impact of work-support policies on families' resources.