Changes in social policies in the mid-1990s increased the penalties for not working and raised the rewards for working. These policies played a major role in stimulating employment among single mothers and the gains were approximately as high in nonmetro areas as in metro areas

Increasing workforce participation among single mothers is the primary goal of recent welfare reform measures. This article shows that increased workforce participation in the mid to late 1990s led to improvements in the economic well-being of non-metropolitan and metropolitan area families...