The time clock is ticking any time the parent gets any part of the MFIP cash grant. The clock ticks even if the parent cannot work because of disability or is taking care of disabled children. The clock ticks for parents who are working full-time at low wage jobs and can't get off the grant. Other Problems with MFIP Parents are being pushed into low-wage, dead end jobs. In most of Minnesota rent eats up almost the entire grant.
Welfare is last resort for families in desperate circumstances.
Though there is a plethora of jobs, these, in the main, pay minimum or low wages. However, under Minnesota law, recipients are forced to take the first job offered them, no matter what the wage. This means that in emergencies they must again turn to the state for help. Politicians and those gaining from cheap labor point the finger at poor families to take the attention from the REAL problems of today. There is a severe shortage of jobs that pay living wages.