Employed Former Recipients' Use of Income Support Programs

This study examined the extent to which households leaving CalWORKs obtained Medi-Cal, food stamp, and federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) benefits. Of particular interest were those households that exit CalWORKs due to increased earnings, but who appear to remain eligible for food stamps, Medi-Cal, and/or the EITC.

The RAND-led research team conducted a series of analyses to determine: (1) the extent to which welfare leavers with earnings remain eligible for these non-time-limited benefits, (2) the rate at which leavers “take up” these benefits, (3) reasons for the magnitude of observed take-up rates, and (4) policy approaches to increase take-up rates among eligible leavers, if rates are found to be unjustifiably low.

To accomplish these ends, RAND employed qualitative interviews with key informants (state and county officials), quantitative analyses of administrative data, and quantitative analyses of original survey data. The new survey data were collected as part of RAND’s six-county California Household Social Services Survey, a component of the statewide evaluation of CalWORKs that RAND conducted for the State of California. The recipients surveyed resided in six counties: Alameda, Butte, Fresno, Los Angeles, Sacramento, and San Diego.

Amy Cox, Co-Principal Investigator

Sociologist, Labor and Population Program

RAND Corporation

Joe Hotz, Co-Principal Investigator

Professor of Economics

University of California, Los Angeles

Jacob Klerman, Co-Principal Investigator

Senior Economist, Labor and Population Program

RAND Corporation