Federal Job Funding Opens Doors for Single Mothers

Women in Poverty - Tales from the Recession's Front Lines

Part: 9

Federal Job Funding Opens Doors for Single Mothers

By Sharon Johnson

WeNews senior correspondent

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

The federal funding program for job creation has given states various ways to help workers hurt by the recession. Florida created jobs for low-income parents, many of them young single mothers. Mississippi gave preference to employers with small payrolls.

single mom (WOMENSENEWS)--The $5 billion in emergency jobs funding that Congress approved in 2008 to help low-income people weather the recession has been spent by states in various ways.

Now, advocates are hoping that Congress will extend the $5 billion federal stimulus program that has created more than 200,000 jobs for low-income women and men struggling to support their children during the worst recession in seven decades.

Washington State Rep. Jim McDermott, chair of the Income Support and Family Security Subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee, predicted that legislation would be introduced in September when Congress returns from its summer recess, which began Aug. 9.

Florida, which had the sixth highest rate of unemployment in the nation during the recession, used $100 million of its stimulus funds to subsidize the creation of over 10,000 jobs throughout the state for parents with incomes less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level. Most jobs paid $9 to $14 an hour, although some of the managerial positions paid more.

Much of the state's funds went to recipients of TANF, or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, the federal aid program that Congress passed in 1996 that provides block grants to states to move low-income single parents from welfare to work. The amount of dollars in the block grants has remained constant and states have incurred extra expenses during the recession because more single parents are becoming eligible for TANF and current recipients have been unable to find jobs amid high unemployment.

"Many young single mothers on TANF got entry level jobs in customer service, clerical work, landscaping and other fields," said Robby Cunningham, spokesperson for the Tallahassee-based Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation, which administers the program in the state.

Parents in their late 20s and 30s who had considerable experience in construction, finance and tourism--all fields that were decimated by the recession--launched new careers in allied health, education and other fields that are expanding in Florida, said Cunningham.

Program 'Provides Critical Safety Net'

No one is able to predict with accuracy how many of the program's participants across the country will continue to be employed if the federal funds run out.

A one-year, $2.5 billion extension passed the House in May, but was filibustered in the Senate. A newer version has been a matter of hot political debate in Congress. The debate will pick up again when Congress returns from its summer recess.

"TANF helps struggling families with children get the services they need and deserve during tough times," McDermott said in an email interview. "While the current program is not perfect, it provides a critical safety net. I look forward to working with my colleagues this fall to provide extended funding for the program and will begin working in laying the foundation for a broader proposal that will improve access to the program and strengthen its capacity to respond to their needs."

Other states across the country have also used the federal funds for job creation. South Carolina spent $2.6 million to subsidize jobs for TANF participants at private employers like McDonald's, Wal-Mart and CVS Pharmacy. To encourage the companies to retain the workers, the state required participating employers to sign an agreement to keep employees on after the six-month subsidy of employees' minimum wage salaries were completed. Many of the participants were single mothers.

Mississippi used its $43 million subsidy to create more than 3,500 jobs. The state paid the full salary for the employees' first two months and then gradually decreased the subsidy to one-fourth the salary during the following sixth months.

The state gave preference to companies with under 25 employees because Republican Gov. Haley Barbour believes that fostering expansion of small business is the key to a healthy state economy. Research has indicated that small businesses are most likely to employ poor women, so the subsidies may have helped single mothers in Mississippi Steps program retain their jobs. In most states, the program is known as TANF, but a few states like Mississippi have given it special names like Steps.

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