ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the national outcomes of the US welfare reforms through the prism of the relationship between growth and poverty. It shows that literature that focuses on the respective role played by the US business cycle and the reforms on caseloads, employment, and poverty rates of single mothers. The chapter discusses that the literature provides no clear-cut answer to the question of the respective contributions of economic growth and the reforms to the changes in welfare participation, employment, and income of single mothers. It argues that, in a weak macroeconomic environment, the effects of the labor market dynamics on Aid to Families with Dependent Children/Temporary Assistance for Needy Families leavers remain uncertain, based on the analysis of the safety-net left to the working poor since the 1996 Reform. The chapter reviews the literature focusing on the outcomes of welfare reform in terms of poverty in the context of the 1990s strong economy.
