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1 1 (March 27, 2018)

handle is hein.crs/govzge0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional Research Service I Morming the I ~gisIativ debate ince 1914 0 March 27, 2018 Temporary Assistance for Needy Families: Work Requirements Introduction The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant helps states fund public assistance programs for needy families with children, usually headed by a single mother. TANF was created in the 1996 welfare reform law, with a goal of ending dependence on assistance through work and job preparation. This In Focus discusses TANF work requirements, summarizing and extending the analysis in CRS Report R44751, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF): The Work Participation Standard and Engagement in Welfare-to-Work Activities. Despite the work requirements, only a minority of non-employed TANF assistance recipients are engaged in activities such as job search, subsidized employment, community service, or education and training in a month. Federal TANF Work Requirements The federal TANF work requirements apply to states, rather than individual recipients. Most prominent is a numerical performance standard-a minimum work participation rate (WPR)-that each state must meet or risk a penalty that would reduce its block grant. It is this numerical standard and its detailed rules that are commonly referred to as the TANF work requirement. The standard was intended to provide accountability, while giving states flexibility to meet TANF's goals. While the federal participation standard may help shape states' decisions about their work requirements for individual recipients, it is the states that determine what those requirements look like. States decide whether or not to provide assistance to working low-income parents. States also decide who among the non-working recipients must participate in activities, what activities they must engage in, and how many hours are required. The Work Participation Standard In order for the state to meet the work participation standard, (TANF) statute requires that states have either working, or engaged in activities, 50% of all families and 90% of families with two parents. Families are excluded in the WPR calculation if they do not have a work-eligible individual (e.g., grandparents caring for a child) or are otherwise exempt (e.g., single parents caring for an infant). WPR Targets Vary by State and Year Further, the statutory percentages may be reduced by credits. The main credit is for caseload reduction, which has played a large role in TANF. The assistance caseload fell from 5.1 million families in March 1994 to 1.4 million in March 2017. Much of this decline resulted from states serving fewer eligible families, rather than declines in the number of families eligible for benefits. Currently, each state receives credits for the total caseload reduction that has occurred in it since FY2005. For FY2016 (the latest year data are available), 12 states received no credit and faced the full 50% standard for all families, while 20 states had this standard reduced to 0%. Thus, 20 states could have no recipients working or engaged in activities and still meet the TANF standard. What Counts as Engagement in Activities? There are detailed rules about what activities count, when those activities count, and how many hours recipients must be engaged in activities for them to count toward meeting the state's work participation standard. Federal rules permit states to count as engagement working at a job while simultaneously receiving assistance (unsubsidized employment), or participation in work and job preparation activities, which include job search and readiness, education and training, subsidized employment, community service, and work experience programs. TANF's rules limit the counting of job search, job readiness, and education training. This reflects a work-first philosophy, which seeks to move recipients quickly into jobs. Figure I. Federal TANF Work Participation Standards and State Work Requirements Source: Congressional Research Service (CRS). WPRs Achieved by States Figure 2 shows the TANF WPR for FY2002 through FY2016. For the period from FY2002 to FY201 1, the national WPR held fairly steady, around 30%. Beginning in FY2012, the WPR began to increase, and in FY2016 it exceeded 50% for the first time. The figure divides the WPR into three participation categories: (1) welfare-to-work activities, (2) unsubsidized https://crsrepots.congress.go vho redcor

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