Workfare Revolt? (Minnesota's welfare-to-work program draws increasing fire)

Last week, the board got some answers. In 2006, 739 of Hennepin County's 11,000 MFIP recipients worked for no pay as a condition of continuing to receive welfare benefits. They worked an average of four to six weeks apiece at a long list of local nonprofits. Hennepin County contracts with an outside agency to provide the placements. (Under a separate program, the county spent $600,000 subsidizing the wages of another 200 MFIP recipients who were having trouble finding jobs.)

Thirty-two of the people performing unpaid work were eventually hired by the agencies where they were working. Results for the rest were mixed: 28 percent went on to part-time work at an average wage of $9.51; 36 percent went to work full-time (more than 32 hours a week); 7 percent saw their benefits reduced for failing to do enough; and the other 30 percent or so were unable to keep working because of family or medical issues or chemical dependency.

Because of new rules imposed on states by the federal government, this year, welfare rights advocates and state lawmakers say, the number of people pushed into unpaid work stands to mushroom.

Workfare, as the practice of requiring people to work for benefits is known, is hardly a new idea. When Congress passed the landmark 1996 welfare reform, they created a series of rules regarding the duration of benefits for individuals and the number of recipients who had to be moved into the workforce. Minnesota chose to meet the federal requirements by providing extra support to families during the process, in the hope that they would become truly independent and not just cycle back onto the rolls whenever they stum

Because of new rules imposed on states by the federal government, this year, welfare rights advocates and state lawmakers say, the number of people pushed into unpaid work stands to mushroom.

Illinois does this. I know some people who are refugees who were told, after having been here a while and gotten language and job training, that they would have to do this in order to keep receiving benefits. Some of them thought that they'd get their benefits plus an hourly amount for each hour worked. I told them, no, you'll only get your monthly allowance. They thought it wasn't fair. I said, "Hey, you're coming here and receiving help from the government to get trained and adjusted to life here. If you want to take the money, you have to follow the rules of the one handing out the money. If you want more money than that, then go out and find a job. But even then you'll have to follow your employer's conditions to receive the money." Some of them said, "But now I'll be working for nothing." I said, "No, before you were getting money for nothing. Now you'll be working in order to continue receiving that money. If you don't like that work, then go out and find a job you do like." Most of the refugees I know, though, move very quickly into work, work hard, and do well for themselves and their families.

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