Less Aid, More Jobs

Fueled by a vibrant economy that is producing plentiful jobs, Orange County is leading the way regionally in the historic government effort to move aid recipients into jobs, according to new county data.

The local welfare roll has declined by 43% over the last four years, more than any other county in Southern California and second only to Santa Clara County among urban counties across the state.

Welfare recipients now make up less than 1% of Orange County’s population, or 23,301 people--a percentage well below other counties including Los Angeles (2.5%) and Riverside (1.8%), according to the Orange County Social Services Agency.

Officials expressed satisfaction at the numbers but warned that many of the remaining recipients are “hard cases” who will take extra effort to bring into the workplace. They also stressed that the strong job market that has evolved since welfare reform took effect nearly two years ago has played a crucial role.

“You could encourage and push people all you want. But if you don’t have a place for them to get a job, the only thing they can do is move” to a place where jobs are available, said Angelo Doti, the county’s welfare reform czar.

The welfare reform project is designed to provide recipients with the training, child care and other services they need to find and retain jobs. It took effect in Orange County in February 1998.

In just the last year, the number of able-bodied welfare recipients who gained employment nearly doubled to 15,799.

Critics of the welfare-to-work approach say that Orange County’s numbers are impressive, but they question whether they will really lead to a decrease in poverty.

“I understand the momentum for employment, but work only is not getting them to be self-sufficient. It’s not going to solve poverty or required support from the state,” said Dolores Barrett, director of social services at the Salvation Army in Santa Ana.

Barrett noted that many of the jobs that welfare recipients receive pay so little that they remain in poverty and continue to need government assistance, such as food stamps and child care. They might not be able to survive in Orange County if those benefits are taken away, as they are scheduled to be in the coming months and years.

The mix of hopefulness and fear is shared by some people who are leaving the rolls.

Pamela Barrios, a 34-year-old single mother of three children in Anaheim, said she has made progress since she got a job in a paper company this year. Her starting salary of $6 an hour was increased to $8.50 an hour.

Her mother helps with her child care needs and shares the rent on their $750-a-month apartment. For the first time in her adult life, Barrios is independent from government assistance.

“I feel good because I feel like I’m making it on my own, that I’m really doing something,” she said.

But she, like others, worries that she may not be able to get more salary increases without more skills. Barrios has a high school equivalency diploma.

“It’s something that’s in the back of my mind all the time because it’s so expensive to live here,” she said.

Able-bodied adults are now limited to five years of aid over their lifetimes and may receive assistance for up to only two years at a time.

The first wave of welfare-reform participants is scheduled to lose benefits in February 2000, after two years with the program.

As these people leave the rolls, the county will work with the tougher cases, including those with language barriers, low levels of education, mental health and substance abuse problems as well as domestic violence victims and single moms, Doti said.

Doti said the single largest factor in Orange County’s success has been its economy, and that should help these harder-to-place recipients as well.

“A significant amount of the labor in Orange County comes from elsewhere [in Southern California]. That shows you have a labor shortage that makes our clients more attractive,” he said.

Gordon Scott, regional advisor at the California Department of Social Services, agreed. “Employers are looking for sources for staffing.

Where you have an aggressive and supportive system to help people get jobs and a [strong] economy, you couldn’t ask for a better match.”

The state has contracted Rand Corp. to evaluate California’s program and determine why certain counties have done better than others. The preliminary results of the study are expected in March 2000.

Rand analyst Jacob Klerman, who is writing the report, said the study may indicate other factors, but he already knows that a county’s economy is an important player.

“Everything that we know about welfare is that if people have a choice between welfare and work, they will work. In places with low unemployment rates, we would expect low welfare caseloads. That’s probably what is happening in Orange County,” Klerman said.

But how long the booming economy will last remains an open question. A recent Chapman University study predicted that the economy will continue to expand into 2000. Experts expect a slowdown after that.

For now, many new jobholders are cautiously optimistic about the future.

Muy Chheng Kuy, a 48-year-old Santa Ana single mother who is raising five children on her own, said she feels better about herself now that she has a job. Kuy cleans lenses at QSP Optical Technology and recently received a raise from $6 to $6.50.

She said the raise made her feel better about her future.

Other former welfare recipients also are looking to move up in their careers.

Mary Dumas, 35, a single mother of three, lost her husband, her apartment and her job within two months. She found herself on welfare.

She was sent to Catholic Charities, which provides job service counseling for Orange County welfare clients.

Dumas, an experienced receptionist who lives in Anaheim, chose a job at Krispy Kreme, the doughnut shop, because the manager of the new Orange store on the City Drive convinced her of the company’s potential.

“I thought, ‘I’m going to start at the bottom, but I’m going to work my way up,’ ” said Dumas, whose salary is so low she didn’t want it published.

For two years, Dumas will receive a minimal government subsidy while she works, child care plus other benefits. She hopes that by the time the subsidies end, she will be a Krispy Kreme manager.

One day, she hopes to open her own franchise.

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Back to Work

With the help of a bustling economy, Orange County leads the way throughout Southern California in a massive welfare-to-work government effort, according to newly released data. A look at the numbers:

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Welfare Caseloads* County Pop. 1994 1998 % change % ofpopulation Orange 2.7M 40,841 23,301 -43.0 0.9 San Diego 2.8M 68,077 40,466 -40.6 1.5 Ventura 730K 10,542 6,668 -36.8 0.9 San Bernadino 1.6M 64,370 43,458 -32.5 2.7 Riverside 1.4M 36,742 25,369 -31.0 1.8 Los Angeles 9.6M 315,462 235,321 -25.4 2.5 Imperial 142M 6,441 5,044 -21.7 3.5 California 33.3M 921,011 640,989 -30.4 1.9

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*1994 and 1998 figures are for fiscal years, and show average monthly AFDC, CalWORKS and unemployed caseloads

Sources: Orange County Social Services Agency, California Dept. of Finance