United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office Health, Education, and Human Services Division author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 2000-07-28 monographic deposited born digital 52 p. GA 1.13:HEHS-00-122 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-HEHS-00-122 P0b002ee180396f9a f:he00122 DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-24 GAOREPORTS-HEHS-00-122 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-HEHS-00-122 HEHS-00-122 Workfare Public assistance programs Welfare benefits Welfare recipients Employment or training programs Disadvantaged persons State-administered programs HHS Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program San Franciso Community Jobs Initiative (CA) Oregon JOBS Plus Program Chicago WorkFirst Program (IL) Earned Income Credit EIC Philadelphia Paid Work Experience Program (PA) Letter Report HEHS Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) work-site programs, focusing on: (1) the key characteristics of work-site activities states and localities are using in their TANF programs; (2) the key challenges to implementing and administering work-site activities and some of the ways that states and localities have addressed these challenges; and (3) what is known about the effects work-site activities have had on participants' ability to successfully make the transition to unsubsidized employment and on their communities.<p/>GAO noted that: (1) the work-site activities at the locations GAO visited have in common the assignment of TANF recipients to public or private sector employers to perform work in areas such as building maintenance, clerical work, unskilled health care, and food service; (2) however, these work-site activities differ in two key ways; (3) they play varying roles in their state's or locality's TANF program, with some TANF programs requiring almost all recipients who have not found a job after a fixed period of time to participate in work-site activities and others targeting work-site participation to individuals who face multiple barriers to work; (4) the work-site activities GAO reviewed range from those in which participants are expected to work in exchange for a welfare check to those in which participants: (a) receive paychecks subsidized by TANF funds or other funding sources from which payroll taxes, including Social Security, are deducted; and (b) qualify for the Earned Income Credit (EIC); (5) states and localities GAO visited have overcome multiple challenges in implementing and administering their work-site activities, including the challenge of recruiting employers and involving participants; (6) states and localities GAO visited generally have outcome data on key aspects of their TANF programs, such as the number of TANF recipients who find unsubsidized employment or leave welfare, less is known about outcomes specifically for work-site activity participants, and information is not available on the effectiveness of work-site activities in promoting employment; (7) in cases where outcome the data on employment and earnings for work-site participants are available, data are not comparable among the different work-site activities; (8) while outcome data are valuable in helping to understand the extent to which work-site participants become employed, a evaluation using these data would be needed to determine a work-site activity's effectiveness; (9) program administrators, participants, and others suggest that work-site activities can help participants with no prior work experience develop a resume and at the same time provide community services; (10) however, some critics say that some work-site activities do not provide the necessary level or experience of skills to enable participants to make the transition to unsubsidized employment that leads to economic independence; and (11) some critics also say that work-site participants are brought in to replace regular salaried employees. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-HEHS-00-122/html/GAOREPORTS-HEHS-00-122.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-HEHS-00-122/pdf/GAOREPORTS-HEHS-00-122.pdf GAO/HEHS-00-122 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-HEHS-00-122 Letter Report GAO/HEHS-00-122; Welfare Reform: Work-Site-Based Activities Can Play an; Workfare Public assistance programs Welfare benefits Welfare recipients Employment or training programs Disadvantaged persons State-administered programs HHS Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program San Franciso Community Jobs Initiative (CA) Oregon JOBS Plus Program Chicago WorkFirst Program (IL) Earned Income Credit EIC Philadelphia Paid Work Experience Program (PA)