Putting Poor People to Work: How the Work-First Idea Eroded College Access for the Poor

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Description

Today, a college education is more and more viewed as the gateway to the American Dream—a necessary prerequisite for social mobility. Yet contemporary policy reforms in the USA effectively steer former welfare recipients away from an education that could further their career prospects, forcing them directly into the workforce where they continuously find only low-paying jobs with little opportunity for growth. In Putting Poor People to Work, Kathleen Shaw, Sara Goldrick-Rab, Christopher Mazzeo, and Jerry A. Jacobs explore this troubling disconnect between the principles of “work-first” and “college for all.”

The usage of comprehensive interviews with government officials and sophisticated data from six states over a four year period, Putting Poor People to Work shows how contemporary changes in public policy have reduced the quantity and quality of education and training to be had to adults with low incomes. The authors analyze how two policies encouraging work—the federal welfare reform law of 1996 and the Workforce Investment Act of 1998—have made moving people off of public assistance as soon as imaginable, with little regard to their long-term career prospects, a government priority. Putting Poor People to Work shows that since the passage of these “work-first” laws, not only are fewer low-income individuals pursuing postsecondary education, but when they do, they are more and more directed towards the most ineffective, short-term forms of training, somewhat than higher-quality college-level education. Moreover, the schools most able and ready to serve poor adults—the community colleges—are deterred by these policies from doing so.

Having a competitive, agile workforce that can compete with any on the planet is a national priority. In a global economy where skills are paramount, that goal requires broad popular access to education and training. Putting Poor People to Work shows how current U.S. policy discourages poor Americans from seeking out a college education, stranding them in jobs with little potential for growth. This important new book makes a powerful argument for a shift in national priorities that would encourage the poor to embrace both work and education, somewhat than having to choose from the two.

Institute for Research on Poverty Affiliated Books on Poverty and Public Policy”>An Institute for Research on Poverty Affiliated Book on Poverty and Public Policy

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