Welfare Shouldn’t Stop Work : Gov. Wilson is right to trumpet this potentially positive new reform

California’s welfare rules have changed, cutting benefits in response to budgetary pressures but also wisely loosening income restrictions. So Gov. Wilson wants to get the word out: Recipients who work will be rewarded.

The reforms, which took effect this month, allow a parent who gets a full-time job to keep one-third of those wages before benefits are reduced, instead of deducting the first dollar of outside income. As important, they keep medical benefits for their children and qualify for help with child care.

To inform welfare recipients, the Wilson Administration has launched a laudable advertising campaign, printing brochures and posters and establishing a toll-free phone number to let poor parents know they can work without being penalized.

The work provisions are important. A single parent with two children must make ends meet on $607 a month. A year ago, that check totaled $624 a month, and even that was a reduction from previous years. Smaller checks often penalize poor children, but the new reforms allow parents who can get work, even part-time work, to not just make up the losses but bring in a little extra money. Some will surely find jobs in spite of the recession, and now the poor will benefit with everyone else when the economy improves.

Before these changes in the program known as Aid to Families With Dependent Children, work didn’t pay, especially the mimimum-wage jobs that most recipients are likely to find. Every dollar they earned was deducted from their welfare checks. They also lost Medi-Cal protection and then had to pay transportation and other job costs, which meant they ended up with less than if they had stayed on welfare. No matter how hard they worked toward self-sufficiency, they were punished for working. Now the system is at least pointed in the right direction, encouraging and rewarding efforts to get off welfare.

California is a leader in reform. Our experience with GAIN, the successful welfare-to-work program, and these latest changes belong on the table when the Clinton Administration tackles welfare next year. Reform should encourage work, but without punishing poor children.