The 1996 welfare reform forced many poor parents
into the labor market, with little understanding of how the parents’
workforce participation would affect family life in general and
the children in particular. In this paper, we examine the relationship
between parental workforce participation, welfare receipt, and
children’s academic outcomes for a random sample of welfare
mothers and their children. Findings from two waves of the Illinois
Families Study show that children whose parents transitioned from
not working in Wave 1(1999-2000) to working in Wave 2 (2001) were
significantly more likely to be achieving academically —
receiving A’s and B’s — at Wave 2. Parental employment
at Wave 2 was not found to be a positive factor in all cases,
however. We found that children whose parents were employed in
both waves were significantly less likely to receive A’s
and B’s at Wave 2 than were children whose parents transitioned
from not working to working. We also found that receiving welfare
during Wave 2 had a positive relationship with receiving A’s
and B’s at Wave 2, which suggests that welfare payments may
be a protective factor for families. We argue that parental employment
may be beneficial for children’s academic achievement, particularly
if families are able to continue receiving welfare benefits.
Amber Stitziel Pareja, Doctoral
student, Human Development and Social Policy, Northwestern University Dan A. Lewis, Human Development and Social Policy,
Northwestern University
Click on
the working paper title at the top of this
page to download a free pdf of the paper.*
If You Need to Order a Hard Copy: Hard copies
of IPR working papers cost $5.00 each (international orders are $10 each). We only accept checks drawn on U.S. bank and payable in U.S. funds. Checks or money orders should be made
payable to Northwestern University and sent to the following address:
Publications Department - WP Orders
Institute for Policy Research
2040 Sheridan Rd., Evanston, IL 60208-4100.
For information, call 847-491-8712 or email ipr@northwestern.edu.
Please note that we do not accept credit cards.
*Adobe Acrobat Reader 5.0 (or higher) is needed to read the Acrobat pdf.
If you need to install Acrobat Reader, click the button below. Once the file
has downloaded onto your desktop, run it to install the reader on your hard
drive.
