The Poverty of Workfare: Dubious Claims, Dark Clouds, and a Silver Lining

President Clinton and governors across the United States love to tell us that welfare reform is working. Reform is a friendly sounding term for this decade’s explosion of state and federal initiatives that cut welfare benefits, end cash assistance to poor families, and push assistance recipients to get a job—any job—as soon as possible. Officials from the White House down cite dramatic reductions in welfare caseloads since the early 1990s and present inspiring stories as proof that such...