Volume 7, Number 1, Winter-Spring 1998
The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program was created by federal welfare reform legislation enacted August 22, 1996. The purpose of TANF is to provide assistance to families with children and to reduce welfare dependency by promoting job preparation and work. The program reduces entitlements to the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) and food stamp programs, and gives states flexibility to determine eligibility and establish benefit levels under the new time-limited cash assistance program. The reform was designed to significantly reduce the welfare rosters by mandating that 25% of all county welfare recipient households should be involved in work activities for at least 20 hours a week in 1998, increasing to 50% and 32 hours per week by the year 2002. Meeting these mandated goals will result in significant savings for local counties. Failure to meet them could jeopardize the local share of the federal block grant provided by TANF.
On August 11, 1997, in accord with this federal change, Governor Wilson signed Assembly Bill 1542, establishing the new CalWORKs (California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids) program to overhaul existing welfare programs and help individuals become more self-reliant through employment and training. CalWORKs is designed to break the cycle of poverty by giving recipients both the incentives and the tools to move from welfare and to self-reliance. The major mechanisms of CalWORKs are to:
On December 5, 1997, the Ag Labor Network (Farm Bureau, Nisei Farmers League, Sun-Maid, Raisin Bargaining Association, and the California Grape and Tree Fruit League) and the California State Department of Social Services sponsored the Cal/Work Summit in Fresno. The purpose of the conference was to bring agricultural employers and various state and county government agencies together to discuss, debate, and possibly alleviate two problems: seasonal labor shortages and the need to reduce the number of individuals receiving welfare. Few private sector employers have used government employment agencies much in recent years. According to a 1994 study by researchers at the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, UC Berkeley, agricultural businesses have used the state Job Service less and less to assist them in screening and hiring workers. Most recruit mainly through applicant walk-in or referral by other workers or supervisors. [Hiring and Managing Labor for Farms in California, Working paper No. 730. Howard R. Rosenberg, Jeffrey M. Perloff, Vijaykumar S. Pradhan]
Questions abound about what role agriculture can play in reducing the welfare rosters, given the seasonal nature of many jobs and the average size and location of agricultural firms. Unless more year-round jobs are available and employers are willing to hire welfare recipients, governments will be unable to meet goals of shifting people off the welfare rolls and into steady employment.
The federal government is providing work opportunity tax credit incentives for employers to hire former welfare recipients through the 1997 Taxpayer Relief Act and the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (see accompanying article, "Federal Welfare-to-Work Tax Credit for Employers," by Steve Sutter). But what are local governments in the state doing with their new flexibility and responsibility to help move welfare recipients to jobs?
In the Sacramento Valley, small businesses, including agricultural employers, employ more than three out of every four private-industry workers. Their involvement is critical if welfare-to-work is to succeed in the historically high (double-digit) unemployment areas of rural northern California. Small businesses do not have the resources of larger corporations, and different administrative supports are probably needed to enable them to participate effectively in welfare-to-work transitions, if they choose to do so.
Collaboration on Training and Support Services
Butte County provides one interesting example of how local governments are trying to help. The Butte County Community Action Agency is overseeing local welfare reform. According to a report by the UC California Communities Program, the population of Butte County is roughly 196,300 with an unemployment rate of 9% to 10% and a poverty rate of over 12% [Community Welfare Reform Planning: Early Indications from Six California Counties, Working Papers Series, David Campbell, October 1997].
The county has an average of 7,400 people unemployed monthly and a projected annual job growth rate of 1,598. There are approximately eight job seekers for every new job. In order to meet the federally mandated goals, the county will need to create 3,000 new jobs by next year and 4,500 by the year 2000. Sacramento County, with a relatively low unemployment rate of around 5% (national average is 4.2%), but a larger population, will need to find nearly 19,000 jobs and provide child care for 22,000 children by the year 2000.
The Department of Social Welfare in Butte County joined with the Private Industry Council and the Employment Development Department in 1996 to put in place "one-stop" Community Employment Centers to assist employers and individuals seeking jobs. Personnel from all three agencies are housed in two centers, one each in the northern and southern portions of the county. The objective is to better serve customers by providing combined services in one location, offering a variety of eligibility and employment services closer to their homes and work opportunities. The centers are supposed to be a coordinated workforce investment system and job preparation service linking the labor pool and the job pool. They have collaborated with public and private organizations to measure demographic data and labor market information in the county. This on-going data collection effort will help utilize information to target participant training in occupations with the greatest potential for employment within the county and the region.
The centers promote life-long learning for all workers and provide information to help individuals make successful job and career choices. Every employable applicant will be able to have his/her work skills and experience appraised, attend a job skills workshop, and test the labor market through a supervised job search. The centers also serve to help businesses fill their staffing needs, either by finding and referring skilled workers or by assisting in preparation and training of potential future employees.
A Welfare-to-Work Action Team has recently been created, composed of representatives from the employer community, local governments, economic development organizations, social service agencies, community colleges, religious institutions, organized labor, and local workforce preparation organizations. This group has identified six key areas that must be addressed in all welfare-to-work activities:
Within these six areas, the range of welfare-to-work activities for Butte County will be:
To be cost-effective hires for employers, entry-level workers would need some degree of work readiness and job training before entering the industry. To expedite the preparation process, farm labor contractors could help link growers to such kinder, more customer-oriented government agencies as Butte County now has, or they might provide similar services themselves. To increase labor availability over time while reducing their individual liabilities, growers could work together in cooperatives or associations to coordinate the recruitment and flow of workers. With a little work and planning, the average moderate-size employer could arrange for more systematic and organized personnel functions, internally or externally, to attract, motivate, and retain more desirable applicants with a strong work ethic and the ability to learn. For their efforts, employers may reap the benefits of a more productive and satisfied workforce.