States can only have 20 percent of their people who are counted as fulfilling work requirements in education and training. Recipients can only go to school or get training for one year after which time they must be in a job in order to fulfill work requirements. States therefore must use their new latitude to make sure they are moving recipients from welfare to work. Training and education are deemphasized and can only count for one year as a work-related activity. States can have recipients sign individual responsibility plans and make sure that recipients take steps to leave welfare for work.
Family Violence can be a state-approved exemption category if states choose.
Yet, if states are too liberal they fear that newcomers will flood in, rising their rolls. The interstate competition discourages innovation and leads states to cutback to avoid becoming welfare magnets. It indicates how unstantantiated rumors about the poor and welfare recipients can influence public policy. The emphasis on work also tends to leave out insider knowledge about how low-wage jobs do not enable single mothers to make it on their own and how they often have to cycle back onto welfare. About half of all single mothers leaving welfare for work remain poor even five years after leaving welfare.