A limitation on the amount of food stamps available to adults who are not raising children. Proponents of the Personal Responsibility Act believed that by ending incentives to avoid labor, even chronic malingers would be forced to find a job. Opponents of the act predicted a grim future for America's poor. Others invoked images of poor mothers and children, free-falling through the government safety net, living on the streets as welfare time limits expired. There is no question that welfare rolls have been reduced drastically in every state.
More single mothers have jobs and report having more money.
Most former recipients tell interviewers that they prefer work to welfare. However, a recent article by columnist Ellen Goodman shows some disturbing trends. Welfare rates, she notes, have been cut but poverty has increased. If poverty rates are rising during an economic boom, they reason, these numbers will surely climb dramatically during an economic downturn or recession. One study has shown that even when members of this group learn marketable technical skills, fewer than 40 percent are able to remain in the labor force for more than three years.