Welfare Reform: Work-Site-Based Activities Can Play an Important Role in TANF Programs Page: 34 of 52
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B-283158
The only site where displacement appears to be an unresolved issue is New
York City. A confederation of 56 New York City public employee unions has
filed several lawsuits against the mayor and New York City agencies,
including the Human Resources Administration; the Administratio n fo r
Children's Services; and the Departments of Sanitation, Transportation, and
Parks and Recreation. The basis for the lawsuits is the unions' claim that
paid city employees are being replaced with WEP participants or are being
denied promotional opportunities. There is also concern that the increasing
use of work-site participants to perform work equivalent to that typically
performed by entry-level personnel in city agencies prevents individuals
from obtaining city agency employment. A union representative we spoke
with said that entry-level jobs in the city's public agencies have historically
served an important role in helping low-income individuals find stable
employment and move up over time into the middle class. There is no
expectation under WEP, however, that city agencies will hire program
participants. The union believes that the disappearance of permanent
entry-level jobs in city agencies and the lack of entry-level jobs in the
private sector will inhibit individuals with lower skills and abilities from
becoming employed. The issue of whether displacement of regular workers
is occurring is currently being litigated in the courts.Conclusions
Passage of the welfare reform law changed the federal role in providing
assistance to needy families with children. States and localities have been
given broader flexibility to design and implement their welfare programs,
and coupled with this flexibility is a stronger emphasis on work, with work
requirements for most adults receiving cash assistance, limits on the length
of stay on federal cash assistance, and financial penalties for states that do
not have an increasing percentage of their adult caseload working or in
work-related activities over time. As a result, states and localities are
requiring more clients to find jobs or participate in work-related activities
to prepare for jobs. For the type of work-related activities we focused on-
work-site activities, rather than job search or classroom activities-the
characteristics of activity design and structure were strongly influenced by
elected officials, economic environments, and the support the work-site
activities received from their communities. Because work-site activities
must necessarily involve employers or community organizations-public,
nonprofit, or private-these activities cannot succeed without the support
of these entities.
The work-site activities we reviewed are, like welfare reform, a work in
progress. Given the flexibility of TANF, states and localities are providingGAO/HEHS-00-122 TANF Work Programs
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United States. General Accounting Office. Welfare Reform: Work-Site-Based Activities Can Play an Important Role in TANF Programs, report, July 28, 2000; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc291467/m1/34/: accessed April 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.