Editorial: Reforming welfare -- a status check

Based on statistics, the federal welfare reform legislation appears to be working. When Congress passed the legislation in 1996 it required that about 25 percent of welfare recipients either had to be holding jobs or preparing themselves for work.

According to data supplied by 36 states -- 14 others haven't submitted their numbers yet -- 28 percent of those on welfare rolls in 1997 had met these requirements, according to a New York Times article last week. Nevada exceeded the national average, posting 31 percent.

Welfare reform was supposed to dramatically change the decades-old policy of public assistance. No longer is there a federal guarantee of cash assistance for the poorest children. It also gave states additional authority to run welfare programs with federal dollars.

While it is heartening to see more people leave welfare and find work, the statistics can be misleading. For instance, there is no breakout of how many people were holding jobs vs. how many were preparing for work. By lumping these two categories together, as if they were the same, policymakers are left guessing as to how many people are actually finding work.

The statistics also don't say what kind of jobs the people have; the intent of the legislation was for them to get good jobs. Another wild card in all of this is whether our nation's robust economy artificially boosted the percentage of those on welfare who were able to find a job. It would be hard to believe that these numbers could be maintained during an economic downturn.

Looking to the future it also will be quite a feat if this same level of progress can be matched. For example, by the year 2002 half of the adult welfare recipients are supposed to be holding a job. The target certainly is ambitious and many are already questioning whether it can be met.

Without a doubt it was time to reform our welfare system. But as the nation moves forward with its implementation, there are still many unanswered questions as to the types of jobs people are getting and whether the 2002 goals are realistic. There are financial penalties if states don't meet these targets. The easy part was passing the legislation. The tough part will be ensuring that the legislation's intent -- making sure welfare recipients have an opportunity to get decent jobs -- is matched by reality.

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