Skeptics have claimed this decline in caseload would slow and then halt once the most employable welfare recipients were weaned off the rolls. But the pace of Wisconsin's reduction in welfare dependency has actually picked up speed in the last few years as more reforms have been introduced. Liberal welfare experts have claimed that a successful work program might reduce welfare caseloads by 5 percent over three years. But in some parts of Wisconsin the number of people on welfare is falling by 5 percent every 30 days. Wisconsin has a good economy.
Skeptics also claim Wisconsin's reforms have increased welfare costs.
This is untrue. Aggregate AFDC, day-care and training costs have declined in the 10 years since Thompson became governor, while nearly doubling in the rest of the nation over the same period. Second, Thompson has created real work requirements for those who can't find a private-sector job. In contrast to other states, Wisconsin's welfare recipients receive benefits only after work has been satisfactorily completed. Recipients who fail to perform community service work see their welfare checks slashed in direct proportion to the number of hours of work they fail to perform.