Self-Sufficiency Project Explained
The Self-Sufficiency Project was a Canadian experiment in the 1990s that provided a "generous, time-limited earnings supplement available to single parents who had been on welfare for a least a year, and who subsequently left welfare and found full-time work."[1]
The study found that individuals offered a SSP subsidy were four percent more likely to stay on welfare to receive the benefit, but once people qualified for the SSP supplement, 44% left welfare dependence and were employed full-time—defined as working at least 30 hours a week. The program was interesting since increases in employment boosted payroll and other taxes to a large enough extent that the subsidy paid for itself.
Later research suggested that the control group was on trend to catch-up with those who received the supplement in the long-run.[2] [3] [4]
Studies
Berkeley's David Card has studied this extensively with several papers, revealing the aforementioned results.
See also
International:
Notes and References
- Michalopoulos, Charles, Philip K. Robins and David Card. 2005. "When financial work incentives pay for themselves: evidence from a randomized social experiment for welfare recipients." Journal of Public Economics.
- Card . David . Michalopoulos . Charles . Robins . Philip . August 2001 . The Limits to Wage Growth: Measuring the Growth Rate of Wages For Recent Welfare Leavers . NBER Working Papers.
- Web site: Blundell . Richard . May 2002 . (Lecture) Welfare-to-Work: Which Policies Work and Why? . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20170809065006/https://www.ifs.org.uk/conferences/keynes2001.pdf . 9 August 2017 . ifs.org.uk.
- Web site: Bloom . Dan . Charles . Michalopoulos . May 2001 . How Welfare and Work Policies Affect Employment and Income: A Synthesis of Research . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20240116161521/https://www.mdrc.org/sites/default/files/full_393.pdf . 16 Jan 2024 . 16 Jan 2024 . mdrc.org.
