2004 University of Michigan Poverty Research Grants
Funded research
Anthony J. Mallon, Doctoral Candidate, Joint Program in Social Work and Policital Science, University of Michigan.
"Employers and WorkFirst: Assessing Decisions about Retention of New Workers."
Description
Private sector employers are a key stakeholder group in publicly funded workforce development initiatives aimed at helping welfare recipients enter and stay in the workforce. The success of such programs depends on employers' willingness and capacity to not only hire individuals transitioning from welfare to work but also to help them retain their jobs.
Some employers actively promote job retention by implementing work-placed based 'retention-promoting practices' while others take a more passive stance and are either unwilling or unable to do much more than hire workers referred from workforce preparation agencies.
Given the current workfirst policy environment, which emphasizes quick workforce attachment at the expense of pre-employment education and training, employers often function as de facto job readiness training sites. Combined with the findings on job retention of former welfare recipients, it is evident that employers need to be more actively involved in helping these workers address employment barriers. Therefore, it is important for poverty scholars to gain a better understanding of employers' views regarding their role in this process.
This study, which extends prior research on a Welfare-to-Work program in Detroit, will explore how organizational factors, economic considerations and public governance mechanisms affect employers' decisions regarding the implementation of workplace RPPs.
As such, it involves the development and analysis of a unique dataset and begins to lay the theoretical groundwork for larger scale studies on this topic within the fields of organizational studies, political science, public policy, and social work.
Finally, this project entails research that can contribute to the development of mechanisms to promote job retention for TANF recipients trying to move from welfare to work, and from poverty to economic self-sufficiency.
Gutman, Friedel | Mallon | McCrary | Index
