Filed Under: Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, Work Requirements: Key CBPP Reports

Work Requirements: Key CBPP Reports

Last Updated: 09/13/2023

CBPP staff have written many papers on work requirements. Below, we provide links to many of them categorized by their main focus. We have a number of papers on the link between work requirements and deep poverty which we include under its own entry.

Participants’ Experience of Work Requirements

An Interview With Moriah Geer, Former TANF Recipient, on the Human Costs of Taking Assistance Away for Not Meeting Harsh Work Requirements | Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (cbpp.org)

Race and Work Requirements

States Have Flexibility to Move TANF Work Programs in an Antiracist Direction | Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (cbpp.org)

Description of TANF Work Requirements and the Problems with Them

Changes in TANF Work Requirements Could Make Them More Effective in Promoting Employment | Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (cbpp.org)

Problems with Expanding Work Requirements to Other Programs

Expanding Work Requirements Would Make It Harder for People to Meet Basic Needs | Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (cbpp.org)

Harm Caused by Work Requirements

TANF Studies Show Work Requirement Proposals for Other Programs Would Harm Millions, Do Little to Increase Work | Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (cbpp.org)

Summary of Evidence on Work Programs

Evidence Doesn’t Support Claims of Success of TANF Work Requirements | Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (cbpp.org)

Work Requirements Don’t Cut Poverty, Evidence Shows | Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (cbpp.org)

Descriptive Studies on Outcomes of TANF Work Programs

Most Parents Leaving TANF Work, But in Low-Paying, Unstable Jobs, Recent Studies Find | Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (cbpp.org)

Life After TANF in Kansas: For Most, Unsteady Work and Earnings Below Half the Poverty Line | Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (cbpp.org)

Study Praising Kansas’ Harsh TANF Work Penalties Is Fundamentally Flawed | Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (cbpp.org)

Ways to Improve TANF Work Requirements

TANF Improvements Needed to Help Parents Find Better Work and Benefit From an Equitable Recovery | Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (cbpp.org)

Opportunity-Boosting Job Preparedness Takes Significant Investment, Evidence Shows | Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (cbpp.org)

Improving Opportunity: Building on Past Successes | Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (cbpp.org)

5 Ways TANF Work Requirements Could Better Promote Work | Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (cbpp.org)

Blogs on the Failures of Work Requirements

Work Requirements Don’t Cut Poverty | Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (cbpp.org)

Work Requirements Don’t Work | Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (cbpp.org)

Work Requirements for Cash Assistance Fueled Rise in Deep Poverty | Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (cbpp.org)

Mandatory Work Programs Are Costly, Have Limited Long-Term Impact | Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (cbpp.org)

TANF Work Requirements Don’t Bring Stable Jobs, Higher Earnings | Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (cbpp.org)

The Empty Promise of Work Requirements | Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (cbpp.org)

Facts Don’t Support TANF’s “Work-First” Approach | Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (cbpp.org)

Quality Work and Direct Financial Assistance, Not Work Requirements, Stabilize Families | Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (cbpp.org)

Program Administrators Across the Political Spectrum Find TANF Work Requirements Incompatible With Recipients’ Needs | Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (cbpp.org)

The Myth That Single Mothers Don’t Work | Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (cbpp.org)