Much of the negative image of the welfare system stems from the segment of welfare recipients who become long-term users. Like the chronically poor, long-term welfare users often lack the education, skills, or work experience to obtain stable employment that pays enough to sustain their families. These long-term users constitute the greatest policy challenge, and are the focus of most current efforts to get people off welfare and into jobs. However, moving people from welfare to work is not easy. The population that uses welfare is highly dynamic.
Many people go on and off welfare over a period of years.
17 Welfare reform is currently proceeding along at least three avenues. First, Congress has enacted sweeping changes in welfare programs. Second, some states have substantially changed state-run programs. Michigan, for example, eliminated the General Assistance program that provided help primarily to low-income single adults, and Connecticut has reduced its benefit levels. Third, individual states are requesting and receiving unprecedented numbers of waivers from federal laws and regulations that allow states to experiment with ways to lower their costs and reduce their welfare loads.