January 3, 2025
Thanks, Joe Manchin
During transitions of power, it’s easy to fixate on a new administration’s nominees and legislative agenda…
August 1, 2018
How Effective Are Work Requirements?
US safety-net programs already use work requirements to address potential work disincentives, and evidence suggests they increase employment and earnings among recipients capable of work. Critics often cite welfare-to-work experiments from the 1990s as evidence against work requirements, but the most relevant programs in those evaluations—“jobs-first” approaches that emphasized rapid employment—produced substantial gains in work and earnings. Although research on work requirements in programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and Medicaid is more limited and subject to measurement challenges, broader evidence indicates that participation in safety-net programs can reduce employment incentives, implying that work requirements could offset those effects.