Consider: In three years, Florida's welfare caseload -- the number of single-parent families receiving cash assistance from the state -- has fallen by nearly 115,000, a staggering 75%. Those who go on welfare stay on public assistance only about a third as long as previously. Expenditures on cash assistance have fallen by some $32 million a month.
Florida has the largest percentage decline in its welfare caseload among the eight largest states, which account for nearly two-thirds of the national caseload. In some Florida communities, the numbers are head-turning: With about 1-million residents, Jacksonville, for example, now has only around 1,200 families on welfare.
Studies indicate that most of those who have moved off welfare -- some 60% -- have held one job since leaving. Between 50% to 70% of former welfare recipients (depending on the region of the state) say they wouldn't go back on welfare if given the chance. The federal government has even given Florida's WAGES program a $6.9-million award for its effectiveness.
Welfare reform has worked in Florida for a number of reasons: For one, the state churns out massive numbers of entry-level, low-skill jobs. For once, that's for better rather than for worse. Just as important, WAGES is a conservative, low-bureaucracy program that's decentralized and tailors itself to the needs of individual communities. It has been run -- effectively -- away from Tallahassee's bureaucratic swamp, by a small staff in a small office in Tampa that coordinates and occasionally prods the activities of 24 local WAGES boards, where the real work of moving people into jobs takes place. Those boards are comprised of representatives from business, community, social service and education groups -- the players who know what's needed to solve local problems. The local boards hire out the services needed by the people in their regions, whether it's transportation, child care or job training.
With the first stage of welfare reform in place, WAGES now has to shift its focus, however. Appropriately, WAGES until now has concentrated on getting people off welfare and into the workforce as quickly as possible. In the future, however, WAGES must become an essential piece of the puzzle in the state's broader efforts to upgrade the skills of all its workers.
For example: Those remaining on welfare tend to be less educated and more troubled than the welfare population of three years ago. Less than a third of welfare recipients today have a GED, for example, compared with about half three years ago, but only about 6% of the caseload has been referred into education and training programs.
It may be better, long-term, for those remaining on welfare if the system changes to allow and encourage them to receive some skills training and education before moving into the workforce. Sen. George Kirkpatrick, a Gainesville Republican who'll never be accused of being a policy wonk, reportedly may propose the interesting notion of requiring those who sign up for welfare benefits to enroll in a GED program. At the very least, the Legislature should approve a proposal this session that would allow welfare recipients to go to school for some period of time and still receive benefits.
Also vital, says Phyllis Busansky, executive director of the WAGES program, is to not forget those in the ranks of the working poor. Former welfare recipients have swelled the already huge ranks of Florida's paycheck-to-paycheck workers who teeter constantly on the edge of financial solvency, but usually can't afford the time or expense away from work to upgrade their skills.
Recently the state provided additional funding to help the working poor with child care. That was a positive step; another will be combining the WAGES boards with local workforce development boards, which coordinate job training with the needs of local employers. Another will be shifting more control over vocational education into the hands of the community colleges.
Those changes will help orient the state generally toward meeting the demand for the next generation of information jobs; they should also help cement an infrastructure geared toward ratcheting the skills of the working poor upward and making them a part of the state's positive economic thrust.
Somewhat of a question mark in all this is Gov. Jeb Bush. Bush has admirably insisted on a results-oriented approach from state government agencies, and has provided strong leadership in pushing workforce development issues generally.
The governor, however, has been slow to embrace or celebrate WAGES' success, and only recently has he begun to fully engage in the welfare reform effort. It's particularly ironic since WAGES has succeeded so well while embodying the Republican ideals of decentralization and solutions that emerge locally rather than flowing out of Tallahassee. Bush could do more by encouraging the various state agencies that must approve local WAGES coalition contracts to speed that process.
WAGES has met its mandate -- spelled out in state law -- to focus on results. With workforce issues a priority in the coming legislative session, it's an apt time for the governor and and the Legislature to help move WAGES in the direction it needs to go -- supporting the changes that will keep it an essential part of the integrated workforce development effort that's necessary to keep Florida competitive in this new century.