Copyright 2002 Star Tribune  
Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN)
May 29, 2002, Wednesday, Metro Edition
SECTION: NEWS; Reforming welfare // The next steps; Pg. 12A

LENGTH: 486 words

HEADLINE: Transitional jobs;
Hope for the hardest cases

BODY:
Fourth of five editorials.

.

     At a nondescript warehouse off Plato Boulevard in St. Paul one recent afternoon, about 100 workers seated at tables and benches were packaging shampoo, bath salts, small electronics and other consumer items. It could have been any factory in Minnesota, except for the range of services that employees receive: bus rides to work, shop-floor translators, flexible work schedules and a supervisory ratio six times higher than normal.

     Packaging First and places like it once were called sheltered workshops for the disabled, but today they can play a key role in welfare reform: helping the most disadvantaged welfare recipients make the transition to work. They should be part of the package when Congress reauthorizes its welfare-to-work law this summer.

     In the six years since Congress overhauled welfare and gave it a new employment focus, states have found that perhaps two-thirds of recipients could find jobs easily enough. But another third have struggled, despite the system's relentless get-a-job message. Now states are finding out why. A recent study by Lifetrack Resources, a St. Paul nonprofit serving Ramsey County welfare recipients, found that among the neediest families, barriers to work are daunting: 59 percent have a physical disability or a mental impairment; 47 percent speak little or no English; 40 percent have never held a job, and 25 percent are victims of domestic violence.

     These were the hidden families in the old welfare system, and few employers will hire them. Moving them into the workplace will take more than a bus pass and a few hours in job club.

     As states and counties began coping with these families, they turned to an old device _ "supported work" environments such as Packaging First. Four states and more than 30 cities now use some variation on the strategy. They typically test clients for job skills and disabilities, provide supervision and training, then help clients find permanent jobs when their temporary assignments are done.

     Such programs are expensive _ they can cost $8,000 per client, versus the $1,000 that a Minnesota county might spend helping a typical welfare client find work. But they work. A recent study by Mathematica Policy Research in Washington, D.C., found that, while not all clients complete their transitional jobs, 80 to 90 percent of the ones who graduate obtain unsubsidized employment, a performance that rivals the best welfare-to-work programs.

     Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., wants Congress to set aside about $2 billion over the next five years to support these transitional jobs programs, and he's right. The new federal system of temporary assistance asks why certain families couldn't seem to leave welfare. Now that it has found out why, it should help them transcend the barriers.

Thursday: Flexibility for states and recipients.



LOAD-DATE: May 30, 2002