In recent years, marriage patterns in the U.S. have changed dramatically, with adults spending more time unmarried, and cohabitation and nonmarital childbearing becoming increasingly common. To examine these potential precursors of changes in adult marriage patterns, this report examines...

In this article Mathematica's family support experts present final findings from a large-scale, random assignment evaluation of Building Strong Families (BSF), a program offering relationship skills education to low-income, unmarried parents who are expecting or recently had a baby. The study...

This issue brief, the first in a series on trends in welfare to work, examines a Pittsburgh-area program to help newly employed welfare recipients find and keep jobs. Notes that case management, the program's central feature, was valued by participants, but more concrete services, such as help...

Notes that the mix of families remaining on cash assistance has changed, with child-only cases—in which only children are receiving assistance—becoming a growing portion of New Jersey’s welfare caseload. These cases grew from 17 percent of the state’s caseload in 1995 to 33...

In 1997, New Jersey implemented its welfare initiative, Work First New Jersey, which included five-year time limits on cash assistance, immediate work requirements for most clients, and expanded support services. This fifth, and final, report from our multiyear study tracking an early group of...

Shows that WFNJ clients continue to leave welfare for work and improve their outcomes. Although many are in low-paying jobs, their earnings are increasing, and more are getting fringe benefits. However, one in three remains on TANF, and they face multiple barriers to employment--for example,...

Based on four rounds of annual follow-up surveys with an early group of NJ TANF recipients, this brief can help inform recent policy debates related to welfare and marriage. The study found that marriage is relatively rare for TANF recipients, with only about 1 in 10 married and living with a...

This four-page issue brief notes that government housing subsidies improve access to stable, affordable housing for low-income families. Current and former welfare families that receive these subsidies devote a smaller portion of their income to housing, face less housing instability, and live...

This report provides impacts of BSF on couples about 15 months after they applied for the program. Early impacts show that, when results are averaged across the eight individual programs included in the evaluation, BSF did not achieve its primary objective of improving the stability and quality...