Oregon Gets Final Go-Ahead to Begin Welfare Experiment

The Clinton Administration gave Oregon final approval Monday to begin subsidizing private jobs for thousands of single mothers on welfare.

Oregon’s welfare experiment, known as JOBS Plus, cleared its final federal hurdle after 11 months of negotiations between state and federal officials.

“The road to welfare reform is pitted with entrenched opponents who pull out all the stops for the status quo,” said Rep. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), who had lobbied the Administration to approve JOBS Plus.

Waivers of federal rules were required because Oregon will convert food stamps and Aid to Families With Dependent Children into cash and then use the money to subsidize temporary jobs for welfare recipients, most of them single mothers.

Participants will be paid no less than the Oregon minimum wage, $4.75 an hour, and will be eligible to receive the earned income tax credit, which effectively pushes their hourly earnings above $6.

JOBS Plus is expected to place as many as 5,000 welfare recipients into “real work” jobs, most of them private and some public, over the next three years. Each position lasts six to nine months, and the experiment’s sponsors believe that the on-the-job experience will lead participants to permanent positions at the end of their apprenticeship.

In addition to a paycheck, participants will receive health insurance and assistance with child care and transportation, and each will have an “individual education account” to continue education after finding unsubsidized employment.

According to Wyden’s office, banks, plumbing, shipping, manufacturing and electronics companies have expressed interest in participating.

The Agriculture Department had approved JOBS Plus earlier this summer, and Monday the Health and Human Services Department gave the state permission to launch the experiment.