Work and stability in the Safety Net

Session Submission Type: Panel

Abstract

This panel focuses on work and financial stability in the means-tested safety net. The programs comprising the safety net have shifted toward promoting work and self-sufficiency (Schmidt et al. 2025), and the papers in this panel each address specific components of effectiveness toward those goals. All papers on the panel also rely on linked administrative data, which highlights both the value of these linkages as well as new approaches for using this type of data. Covering a range of programs — including Child Care subsidies, SNAP, and TANF — and geographic areas — including California, Colorado, and Pennsylvania — the papers in this panel expand our understanding of whether and how the safety net is meeting its goals. 

In the first paper, Chizeck studies whether child care subsidies have an impact on labor market outcomes for mothers. Using six years of subsidy applications from Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Chizek compares the labor market outcomes for those who received the subsidies compared to those who were found to be ineligible. The administrative panel on formal employment allows for the implementation of difference-in-difference estimators with built-in placebo checks.

In the second paper, Akhavan, Brown, Fischer, Gong, and Rothstein study the effects of changing SNAP amounts on program attachment, financial stability, and employment. Using administrative data linked to consumer credit data, the authors are able to identify individual households with differential exposure to SNAP benefit expansions introduced after the COVID-19 pandemic. This allows them to identify the effect of benefit reductions on a range of outcomes once the emergency expansions expired. Most notably, these outcomes include measures of financial stability from consumer credit data.

In the final paper, Barham, Cadena, and Schechter study whether work supports — including subsidized internships — for TANF recipients is effective at improving labor market outcomes. Using administrative data from Colorado, the authors rely on long histories of earnings to estimate stacked difference-in-difference models. They find that work supports do increase employment and earnings — including after the supports end.

Policy Area

• Poverty and Income Policy

Secondary Policy Area

• Family and Child Policy

Chair

• Colleen M Heflin, Syracuse University

Discussant

• Robert Santillano, Santillano Research

Individual Presentations

• The effect of child care subsidies on mothers' labor market outcomes - Presenting Author: Seth Adam Chizeck, Carnegie Mellon University

• Evaluating the effect of the 2023 SNAP benefits cliff on program persistence, financial stability, and employment - Non-Presenting Co-Author: Erika Brown, University of California, Berkeley; Presenting Author: Brett Fischer, University of California, Berkeley; Non-Presenting Co-Author: Jesse Rothstein, University of California, Berkeley

• Supported Work Leads to Lasting Labor Market Success among TANF Recipients - Presenting Author: Lauren Schechter, University of Notre Dame; Non-Presenting Co-Author: Tania Barham, University of Colorado - Boulder; Non-Presenting Co-Author: Brian Cadena, University of Colorado - Boulder

• Impact of SNAP and TANF on Self-Sufficiency in Virginia - Presenting Author: Jiwoo A. Pierson, Virginia Department of Social Services; Non-Presenting Co-Author: Day Manoli

Organizer

• Robert Santillano, Santillano Research