By Henry Parr
The New York Times reported last week[1] that Mayor Bill de Blasio has vowed to reform the city’s welfare program and to remove its “workfare program.” Workfare is one of the city’s largest welfare programs that requires recipients to work assigned jobs in order to receive unemployment assistance. Under the city’s current Work Experience Program (WEP), participants have to work up to 35 hours a week at assigned public agencies, non-profits, religious institutions, and private companies, in order to receive public assistance.[2]De Blasio hopes to remove these work requirements and to replace them with education, training, and internship programs. While many advocates are calling this an important step in addressing economic inequality, others argue that it will dismantle a successful program and give way to abuses.
In the mid-1990’s New York City was the shining example of workfare programs. Under mayor Rudy Giuliani, the city’s workfare program grew expansively, assigning 38,000 participants to jobs just two years after being implemented.[3] The program was declared a success as the city saw a reduction in welfare rolls and crime, and an increase in productivity for departments that used participant labor. In light of these results, the federal government and other cities across the country enacted similar requirements for those receiving assistance. New York nonetheless remained one of the largest workfare programs in the country and was distinguished from others in that it assigned participants to jobs that were substantially similar to those of unionized city employees.[4] Mayor Bloomberg embraced the policies that Giuliani had set in place and continued the city’s WEP.
The rationale behind workfare is that by requiring recipients to work, the program will help get the unemployed into the job market and reduce reliance on assistance.[5] Robert Doar, the director of the city’s Human Resources Administration under Mayor Bloomberg, has stated that the work-first strategy is necessary to prevent participants from abusing the system and ensures that participants are looking for work or working.[6] Heath MacDonald of the Manhattan Institute argues that these programs build discipline and a culture of work that is necessary to achieve economically.[7] While not indicative of either Doar’s or MacDonald’s concerns, research does indicate that workfare programs are more successful at moving participants into employment.[8]
Advocates for the removal of the workfare program, however, argue that the requirements impact low-income people in ways that are not seen in quantitative data. Helen Storm of the Urban Justice Center stated that the WEP is a “humiliating, frustrating experience for people – being forced to do these sorts of positions without any opportunity to be hired or get trained or advance.”[9] One study of the HRA from 2008 showed that workforce participants are regularly assigned to low-paying jobs that do not lead to sustainable long-term employment.[10] Advocates argue that this is part of a larger “culture of deterrence” that aims to make the process of obtaining assistance so unpleasant that eligible people will not apply for it. [11]
The proposed reforms will attempt to counter these drawbacks by focusing heavily on education. Participants will be allowed to attend college full-time for a year before being required to work part-time. Those who are twenty-four years old or younger will be able to attend high school or a general education degree program full time. Those who are older than twenty-four will be required to study part time or obtain an internship while working part-time.[12] Research suggests that this emphasis on education, if balanced with a focus on employment may produce the best results.[13]
Ultimately, while it may be too early to tell what the definite impact of phasing out the workfare program will be, current participants and advocates are hopeful that a new policy can be implanted properly. As John Medina, an advocate at Community Voices Heard and a welfare recipient stated, “New York City was once the place of dreams for the world, let us begin to make this happen.”[14]
Sources from this Article
[1] Rachel L. Swarns, DeBlasio’s Plan to Eliminate Workfare Lifts Hopes for Job Seekers, N.Y. Times (Nov. 2, 2014) http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/03/nyregion/de-blasios-plan-to-eliminate-workfare-lifts-hopes-for-job-seekers.html.
[2] E. Tammy Kim, New York City changes course on welfare-to-work, Al Jazeera America, (Oct. 16, 2014) http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/10/16/an-activist-reformertakesonwelfareinnewyorkcity.html.
[3] John Krinsky, The Urban Politics of Workfare: New York City’s Welfare Reforms and the Dimensions of Welfare Policy Making, 42 Urban Affairs Review 771, 771-771 (2007), available at: http://uar.sagepub.com/content/42/6/771.full.pdf+html.
[4] Id.
[5] Between Policy and Practice the Rest of the Story, University of Chicago Urban Network, available at: https://urban.uchicago.edu/page/between-policy-and-practice-rest-story#overlay-context=user%3Fdestination%3Dnode/44.
[6] E. Tammy Kim, New York City changes course on welfare-to-work, Al Jazeera America, (Oct. 16, 2014) http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/10/16/an-activist-reformertakesonwelfareinnewyorkcity.html.
[7] Id.
[8] Rachel L. Swarns, DeBlasio’s Plan to Eliminate Workfare Lifts Hopes for Job Seekers, N.Y. Times (Nov. 2, 2014) http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/03/nyregion/de-blasios-plan-to-eliminate-workfare-lifts-hopes-for-job-seekers.html, citing Moving People from Welfare to Work: Lessons from the National Evaluation of Welfare-to-Work Strategies, available at: http://aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/newws/synthesis02/chapt4.htm#Education.
[9] E. Tammy Kim, New York City changes course on welfare-to-work, Al Jazeera America, (Oct. 16, 2014) http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/10/16/an-activist-reformertakesonwelfareinnewyorkcity.html.
[10] Michelle Chen, Can New York City’s Welfare System Be Saved?, The Nation, (May 29, 2014) available at: http://www.thenation.com/blog/180027/can-new-york-citys-welfare-system-be-saved#.
[11] Id.
[12] Rachel L. Swarns, DeBlasio’s Plan to Eliminate Workfare Lifts Hopes for Job Seekers, N.Y. Times (Nov. 2, 2014) http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/03/nyregion/de-blasios-plan-to-eliminate-workfare-lifts-hopes-for-job-seekers.html.
[13] Rachel L. Swarns, DeBlasio’s Plan to Eliminate Workfare Lifts Hopes for Job Seekers, N.Y. Times (Nov. 2, 2014) http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/03/nyregion/de-blasios-plan-to-eliminate-workfare-lifts-hopes-for-job-seekers.html, citing, Moving People from Welfare to Work: Lessons from the National Evaluation of Welfare-to-Work Strategies, available at: http://aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/newws/synthesis02/chapt4.htm#Education.
[14] HRA OVERHAUL ANNOUNCED: WEP TO BE PHASED OUT!, Community Voices Heard, (Oct. 1, 2014) available at: http://www.cvhaction.org/HRA.Overhaul.Announced.