Families on TANF in Illinois:
Employment Assets and Liabilities

Submitted to:
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation

Project Officer:
John Tambornino

By:
Gretchen Kirby, Thomas Fraker,  LaDonna Pavetti, and Martha Kovac
Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.

Project Director:
Thomas Fraker

Survey Director:
Martha Kovac

June 10, 2003

Printer friendly version in PDF format (1.55MB)

This report is available on the Internet at:
http://aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/TANF-IL-emp03/

How to Obtain a Printed Copy of Report

Contents

Executive Summary (also available in PDF format)

Acknowledgments

Chapters

1. Introduction
   • Research Objectives
   • Methodology and Data Sources
   • Limitations of the Study
   • Characteristics of TANF Recipients
   • The Structure of This Report
2. Welfare and Employment Experiences
   • Welfare Experiences
   • Employment and Earnings
   • Household Income
   • Summary
3. Employment Assets and Liabilities
   • Employment Assets
   • Employment Liabilities
   • Employment Status Relative to Assets and Liabilities
   • Summary
4. The Determinants of Labor Market Success or Failure
   • The Prevalence of Multiple Employment Liabilities
   • Influence of Liabilities on Substantial Employment: Multivariate Analysis
   • Effects of Strategies to Address Employment Liabilities: Simulations
5. Key Findings: Summary and Policy Relevance
   • Summary of Findings
   • Policy Relevance
   • Future Research
   • Conclusion

References

Appendices

• Appendix A: Survey and Data Weighting Methods
• Appendix B: Measures of Employment Assets and Liabilities
• Appendix C: Detailed Administrative Data Tables
• Appendix D: Detailed Survey Data Tables
• Appendix E: Methodology for Multivariate Analysis

Tables

• I.1 TANF Case Heads: Demographic Characteristics
• I.2 TANF Case Heads: Characteristics of their Households
• II.1 Principal Reason for Not Working by Case Heads Who Are Not Currently Working
• II.2 Industry and Occupation of Most Recent Job
• II.3 Hours and Duration of Most Recent Job
• II.4 Compensation on Most Recent Job
• II.5 Distribution of Monthly Earnings by Employed Case Heads
• II.6 Sources and Monthly Amounts of Household Income
• II.7 Total Monthly Household Income
• III.1 Common Tasks Frequently Performed on Any Currentor Former Job
• III.2 Children's Health Problems and Special Needs
• III.3 Child Care Use and Problems by TANF Case Heads With A Child Less Than 13 Years Old
• III.4 Transportation Modes and Problems
• III.5 Summary of Employment Assets and their Relationship To Current Employment
• III.6 Summary of Employment Liabilities and their Relationship to Current Employment
• III.7 Client Perceptions of Problems That Prevented Them from Participating in Work or Work-Related Activities During the Past Year
• III.8 Summary of Employment Assets and Liabilities
• IV.1 Potential Liabilities For Employment Included In Total Count
• IV.2 Number of Potential Liabilities for Employment
• IV.3 Presence of Multiple Liabilities
• IV.4 Employment Probabilities by Number of Employment Liabilities
• IV.5 Employment Probabilities by Individual Liabilities
• IV.6 Simulations

Figures

• II.1 Percentage of Last 25 Months Received TANF
• II.2 Duration of Current Spell on TANF
• II.3 TANF Sanctions
• II.4 Elasped Time on 60-month TANF Clock
• II.5 Current Employment Status
• II.6 Shift on Most Recent Job
• II.7 Opportunity for Advancement on Most Recent Job
• II.8 Quarterly Earnings and Employment of All TANF Case Heads over the past Two Years
• II.9 Household Income Relative to the Poverty Level for Workers
• II.10 Household Income Relative to the Poverty Level for Nonworkers
• III.1 Education
• III.2 Program Participation During the past Year
• III.3 Employment in the past Two Years
• III.4 Physical Health
• III.5 Mental Health
• III.6 Arrests and Convictions
• III.7 Other Personal Challenges
• III.8 Domestic Violence
• III.9 Family Members or Friends with Special Needs
• III.10 Pregnancy and Presence of an Infant in Household
• III.11 Unstable Housing During the past Year
• III.12 Employment Discrmination Experienced by TANF Recipients Who Have Worked for Pay
• III.13 Racial and Ethnic Composition of Neighborhoods Where TANF Cases Live
• III.14 Serious Neighborhood Problems
• IV.1 Number of Liabilities for Employment

Acknowledgments

Many individuals and organizations contributed in significant ways to the study of families on TANF in Illinois. This study could not have been conducted without financial support. The Annie E. Casey Foundation and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation provided funding for the design of the study and the collection of administrative and survey data. The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services provided funding for the analysis of the data and the preparation of this report. We thank these three organizations for their generous financial support.

At the Illinois Department of Human Services, David Gruenenfelder, Alan Whitaker, and Terry Husky supported the study by providing us with timely data on the state TANF caseload from DHS administrative records. They also cheerfully and quickly responded to our many questions regarding those data. David Gruenenfelder and John Knight reviewed a draft of this report and provided helpful comments and additional information on Illinois' TANF policies. At the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority, Gerald Ramker assisted us in obtaining access to criminal records data for the members of our survey sample.

Several individuals at ASPE provided valuable contributions to this study. John Tambornino was the project officer and in that role supported our acquisition of criminal records data, contributed to the development of the study's analytic objectives, and carefully reviewed and commented on drafts of this report. Under a different project, Susan Hauan and Julia Isaacs provided critical coordination of and substantive input into the development of a prototype for the survey instrument that was used in this study. Don Oellerich contributed valuable suggestions for the design of the analysis and he and Canta Pian commented on drafts of the report.

Many staff at Mathematica Policy Research contributed to this project through the survey design, data collection, data analysis, and report production activities. In the Survey Division, Jason Markesich managed the day-to-day survey data collection operations. Cindy Steenstra, Barbara Benedict, Susan Golden, Terry Silverii and Marie Hannye-Scurato played important roles in supervising telephone center staff and performing other survey data collection tasks. A small corps of experienced MPR interviewers administered the survey. In addition, John Hall developed the survey sampling plan and the survey weights for the data analysis. Eric French oversaw programming activities necessary to conduct the survey.

In the Research Division, Jocelyn Lewis and Michelle McInnis collected the criminal records data on site from the Illinois Criminal Justice Authority. Jocelyn Lewis and Heather Hesketh provided research assistance throughout the data analysis and production of this report. Robin Dion reviewed a draft of this report and provided thoughtful comments. Donna Dorsey provided secretarial assistance in producing this report and Carol Soble and Daryl Hall edited the manuscript.

Last but not least, we thank the TANF clients in Illinois who took the time to respond to this study's survey. Over 78 percent of the sampled clients completed an interview, during which they shared information about their personal characteristics and circumstances and their efforts to obtain employment and achieve self-sufficiency.

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Last updated: 07/30/03