Making Work Supports Work
National Center for Children in Poverty
NCCP's Making Work Supports Work initiative examines the current patchwork of federal and state programs that assist low-wage workers and their families.
By "work supports," we mean public benefits such as earned income tax credits, child care subsidies, health care coverage, housing assistance, and food stamps.
Provide adequate family resources: The combination of full-time work and public benefits should provide the minimum resources necessary to cover family expenses for housing, food, transportation, child care, and health care.
Collectively, work support programs in the United States fall short of these ideals.
Since work support benefits are means-tested, families begin to lose eligibility as their earnings increase.
The second step is to identify and model policy changes, first at the state level and then the federal, that would improve work support programs for families.
