What Will the States Do When Jobs Are Not Plentiful? Policy and Implementation Challenges

A downturn in the economy is inevitable — at some point, policy makers at the federal, state and local level will be faced with decisions about how to sustain a work-based assistance system when jobs are less readily available. With a fixed level of funding states and localities will be faced with difficult choices about how to balance competing interests and program goals. Although it is impossible to fully prepare for an economic downturn, the choices states and localities make now will significantly affect the issues they will face when jobs are not as readily available as they are now. States and localities have made significant progress in shifting to a work-based assistance, nonetheless, welfare reform remains a work in progress.