Editorials

SAN FRANCISCO — Employers are increasingly hiring welfare recipients into positions paying above minimum wage and providing health benefits, apparently because of the current tight labor market, a new study reports. 

Employers with more job openings were more likely to hire welfare recipients than those with fewer vacancies, which suggests an economic downturn could also mean a decrease in demand for welfare recipients, said Harry Holzer and Michael Stoll, authors of “Employers and Welfare Recipients: The Effects of Welfare Reform in the Workplace,” a study by Public Policy Institute of California. 

“There are a lot of jobs out there for welfare recipients and a lot of employers willing to hire. And once they do hire them a lot of performance measures are higher than we expected,” said Holzer, a professor of public policy at Georgetown University.  

On the upside, more than 3,000 employers surveyed in Los Angeles, Chicago, Cleveland and Milwaukee during 1998 and 1999 said they were willing to hire welfare recipients – particularly those situated near public transportation or worker neighborhoods.  

Between 30 and 40 percent of the employers surveyed said they have hired welfare recipients over the past two years, most frequently in clerical and service positions. 

In all four cities, the study found that jobs filled by welfare recipients pay an average of $7 per hour and generally provide 40 hours of work each week. Employers were also willing to provide health care coverage in two-thirds of the jobs. 

However, a significant portion of the jobs filled by welfare recipients still pay low wages, provide few working hours or offer no health insurance.  

And employees consider the performance of half of all welfare workers comparable to other workers in each metropolitan area and 25 to 40 percent are viewed as better than the average employee. 

Only 10 to 25 percent of workers are considered worse, the study said. High turnover, weak performance and absenteeism linked to child care and transportation issues were criticisms cited by the employers surveyed. That may be because the more welfare workers hired, the greater the chance of hiring those who turn out to be unqualified for the job, Holzer said. 

“The easy people left the rolls and got employed and now we’re in the more difficult part of the case load,” Holzer said. 

Race and education often make or break a job seeker’s chances, the study found. Minority welfare workers, who tend to live in inner city and rural areas, are hired less frequently than whites, likely because of their limited transportation options to jobs in suburban areas, the study found. High school dropouts also did not fare well in the job market. 

“Though a lot of the jobs exist, a lot of them may not be accessible to lower income folks who live in the inner city or in rural areas,” Holzer said. 

Welfare workers had better luck in some regions than others. Los Angeles employers hire fewer welfare recipients, though the job performance of workers appears better. Milwaukee hires the most, but also faces a low job retention rate. 

Governments and institutions should invest in training and support services, such as child care and transportation, to create greater job stability among welfare workers before the next recession, Holzer said. That would mean fewer workers returning to the welfare rolls and a chance for the unemployable to try community service jobs or other programs.