Self-Sufficiency Project

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

• Welfare reform
• Welfare state
• Welfare
• Workfare

International:

• Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act

References

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. Blundell, Richard (May 2002). "(Lecture) Welfare-to-Work: Which Policies Work and Why?" (PDF). ifs.org.uk. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 August 2017.
4. Bloom, Dan; Charles, Michalopoulos (May 2001). "How Welfare and Work Policies Affect Employment and Income: A Synthesis of Research" (PDF). mdrc.org. Archived (PDF) from the original on 16 Jan 2024. Retrieved 16 Jan 2024.