Employment and Earnings of Milwaukee County Single Parent AFDC Families: Establishing Benchmarks for Measuring Employment Outcomes Under "W-2"

Abstract

This report tracks the earnings and employment experience for the 25,125 single parents receiving AFDC in Milwaukee County in December 1995 who are expected to work under the "W-2" new state welfare regulations. The Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development matched the quarterly wage files from Wisconsin employers (January 1996 through March 1997) with the AFDC population in Milwaukee County. The Employment and Training Institute then analyzed employment patterns, jobs held and earnings for each single parent in the study population. Additionally, the AFDC and public assistance status of each AFDC case was examined for December 1995, September 1996 and December 1996. State DWD employer records showed employment and earnings for 18,126 of the 25,125 parents at some time from January 1996 through March 1997. In all 42,120 jobs were held by employed parents during the five quarters examined. Earnings were tracked for all single parents remaining on AFDC and also for parents leaving AFDC. These employment outcomes offer a first look at the experience of AFDC recipients and provide baseline data on the characteristics of the AFDC population leaving public assistance prior to implementation of "W-2." The study introduces a methodology for providing timely data on "W-2" outcomes using measures of employment and earnings