This article looks at how Clinton-era welfare reform that emphasized welfare to work has worsened the plight of the poorest Americans. Although Bob Schoeni found some positive results – the creation of TANF was associated with about a 2 percentage point decline in the poverty rate for less educated women – Luke Shaefer found that the number of American households with children that got by on less that $2 in cash per person grew 159% between 1996 and 2011.

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