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EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE
Saturday, Dec. 16, 2000, 10:06 AM
Contact: Michael Kharfen, (202) 401-9215
HHS
AWARDS WELFARE HIGH PERFORMANCE BONUSES
Higher Increases In Job Placements And Earnings Reported
HHS Secretary Donna
E. Shalala announced today that 28 states have been awarded high performance
bonuses created to reward superior results in welfare reform. The $200
million in annual bonuses, established in the 1996 welfare reform law,
was given to the states with the best achievement in moving parents on
welfare into jobs and their success in staying employed and increasing
their earnings.
According to reports
filed by the 48 states and the District of Columbia competing for the
bonus, more than 1.2 million parents on welfare went to work in the period
between Oct. 1, 1998, and Sept. 30, 1999. Overall, 43 percent of welfare
recipients entered the work force in 1999 in comparison to 39 percent
in 1998. Retention rates were also high: of those who obtained jobs, 77
percent were still working in the next quarter. The states also reported
a rise in the average increase in earnings of 31 percent from $2,027 in
the first quarter of employment to $2,647 in the third quarter. Last year,
states reported an average increase of 23 percent.
Forty-five states
and the District of Columbia competed for the bonus last year, the first
year they were awarded.
"Today we can
report that more and more parents are turning welfare checks into pay
checks," said Secretary Shalala. "The lesson from these early
years of welfare reform under the Clinton administration prove that when
states invest in support for working families, parents keep jobs and raise
their earnings. As the next chapter on welfare is written, I encourage
states to commit to reaching all families -- those with more barriers
to employment and those newly in the work force -- with the help they
need to support themselves and their children."
The high performance
bonus rewards states for annual results in four categories: job placement,
job success (measured by retention and earnings gains), biggest improvement
in job placement, and biggest improvement in job success. The $200 million
is allocated among the four categories, with the top 10 states in each
category receiving an amount proportionate to their percentage of the
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant.
The states ranked
the highest in each category were Idaho (job placement), Arizona (job
retention and earnings), Arkansas (largest improvement in job placement)
and Wisconsin (largest improvement in job retention and earnings). The
other states receiving bonuses are: Alabama, California, Connecticut,
Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota,
Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, North
Dakota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia and
Wyoming.
Overall, most states
performed impressively by exceeding the national averages: 30 states performed
higher than the 43 percent job entry rate, 29 states bested the 77 percent
job retention rate and 24 states had larger earnings gains than the national
31 percent. Three states -- Arkansas, Hawaii and Wisconsin -- received
bonuses in three categories, and six states -- Alabama, Arizona, Florida,
Illinois, Montana and Wyoming -- received bonuses in two categories. Seventeen
states were repeat winners from last year, and 11 were new winners.
The Secretary also
released new welfare caseload numbers showing 5.8 million recipients on
welfare as of June 2000, a decrease of 8.3 million or 59 percent since
1993. The number of recipients as a proportion of the total U.S. population
is now at 2.1 percent, the lowest since 1963.
"Welfare reform
has made great strides in overcoming the myth that parents on welfare
don't want to work, creating new partnerships with employers and raising
the awareness about the critical supports that working families need to
succeed at the job and at home," said Olivia A. Golden, HHS assistant
secretary for children and families. "It is crucial that the federal
government maintain its stake in helping working families with more child
care assistance and that states continue their investment in supports
to fulfill for each family the goal of self-sufficiency."
Golden also noted
that "it is especially striking that the increase in the job entry
rate happened with smaller welfare caseloads, defying predictions that
the remaining people on welfare would be harder to employ and less likely
to go to work. This clearly hasn't happened yet and emphasizes that we
should keep our focus on investing in people rather than writing them
off. State investments in job training, child care, substance abuse treatment,
transportation and career counseling can continue to reduce the welfare
rolls and increase the number of single parents working to support their
children."
In addition to the
high performance bonuses, the 1996 welfare law also subjects states to
minimum rates of work participation for their welfare caseload. HHS announced
earlier this year that all 50 states and the District of Columbia met
the work participation rates for all families in 1999 while 28 of the
36 states subject to a separate two-parent family rate met it. In addition,
the department also earlier announced new 1999 data showing that the percentage
of welfare recipients who are working has increased to nearly five times
the level when the President took office - from 7 percent in 1992 to an
all-time high of 33 percent in 1999. The majority of working recipients
are in paid employment, with the remainder involved in community service
or subsidized employment.
Earlier this year,
HHS issued a final regulation that added new categories of awards for
state performance beginning next year. The new regulation retains the
four work measures and adds new categories for family formation; enrollment
in Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP);
enrollment in the Food Stamp Program; and providing child care to working
families. These new measures will promote the goals of the 1996 welfare
law to provide assistance to needy families, promote work, and encourage
the formation and maintenance of two-parent families.
The tables on state
awards and rates and new
welfare caseload numbers are available on the Internet at bonus
winners by state, bonus winners
by rank order and detailed
state tables.
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