Privatization and Employment in the Implementation of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families...

About

Seeks to empirically connect privatization to TANF program outcomes through multi-level models that incorporate and estimate both individual-level and contextual factors within the state of Florida.

Privatization in the implementation of social welfare programs represents a relatively unexplored administrative strategy and little remains known of its origins and consequences. After briefly exploring the antecedents of welfare contracting across the American states, this research utilizes multi-level modeling techniques to examine the consequences of privatization on the employment outcomes of welfare clients. The quantitative findings indicate that privatizing welfare services is not an administrative panacea in that the quality of client-level employment outcomes are seldom improved under private sector arrangements. There is also scant evidence of predatory behavior among private sector welfare providers. Historically disadvantaged African American and low-educated welfare clients are no worse off under profit seekers and are potentially achieving superior outcomes under non-profit administration. (Abstractor: Website staff)

Full publication title: Privatization and Employment in the Implementation of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF): A Multi-Level Analysis

Major Findings and Recommendations

"The likelihood of participating in full-time work activities or the likelihood of leaving TANF due to employment was no more likely in for-profit and non-profit settings than in public settings" (p.53). (Abstractor: Author).

Materials

http://wdr.doleta.gov/research/FullText_Documents/ETAOP_2011-08.pdf

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Content Details

Methodology:

Non-Experimental Impact Analyses

Topics:

Job Coaching Job Sharing Career Readiness Employability Skills Soft Skills Training Cost Allocation Procurement Collaboration Integrated Programs/Services Leveraging Resources Outcomes Performance Data Sub-recipient Performance Data-Driven Decisions Funding - General Governance Leadership

Target Populations:

Public Assistance Recipients

Programs:

HHS - Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)

Geographic Locations:

Florida

Industry Sectors:

Cross-Industry

Last Updated:
Created:
Resource Publication Date: 2011
Author(s): Butz, Adam
Organizational Author(s): University of Kentucky in Lexington
Funding Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration
Resource Availability: Publicly available
Posted by: Laura Aron
Posted in: Workforce System Strategies