Findings from Work First New Jersey

In 1997, New Jersey implemented its welfare initiative, Work First New Jersey, which included five-year time limits on cash assistance, immediate work requirements for most clients, and expanded support services. Over the ensuing years, many WFNJ clients have made substantial economic progress and continue to move toward self-sufficiency. However, their economic progress has not always been steady, and some have been more successful than others. Many have cycled in and out of the labor market. In addition, some have left welfare and lack a substantial alternative source of financial support.

The final report from Mathematica’s multiyear study tracking an early group of Work First clients focuses on their economic progress, housing situations, and noncustodial fathers’ involvement with their children. Clients have experienced substantial economic gains, much of it in the first few years after entering WFNJ; housing stability has improved as incomes have risen, with about a third receiving housing subsidies, mainly through rent vouchers; and most children have little contact with their noncustodial fathers and typically receive little or no financial support from them. A synthesis report provides a brief summary of key findings related to the evaluation's major components. A narrative report focuses on the wide range of experiences of current and former recipients and portrays their struggles.

Issue briefs from the study look at TANF leavers who are not employed, marriage patterns of TANF recipients, child-only TANF cases, and how experiences of earlier and later clients, barriers to employment, working families' access to support services, and how WFNJ clients fared four years after entering the program. 

Other reports cover clients' 40-month and 30-month outcomes, the lessons learned from implementation, local service needs and workforce demands, and an early look at client outcomes in the years immediately after they entered WFNJ. To order printed copies, contact Jackie Allen.

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