Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 March 2020
Contemporary welfare policies in many Western countries limit means tested public assistance for the long-term unemployed and spur rapid movement into the labor market. Studies on welfare use determinants that traced these policy changes focused on individuals’ characteristics, economic condition, and various policy components. Little attention was paid to welfare recipients’ job quality or its role in determining welfare exit. The present study examined the contribution of various job quality aspects, beyond wages, to welfare exit among welfare recipients in Israel. We considered the use of workers’ own skills and occupation, existence of standard employment contract (versus temporary), irregular work schedule, and application of mandatory and non-mandatory non-wage compensation attributes. The data derive from a national panel survey of 2,800 single-mother recipients of welfare in 2003. The results indicate the importance of these job components for welfare exit, above and beyond wages. Implications for policy are discussed.
Additional results and copies of the computer programs used to generate the results presented in the paper are available from the lead author at [email protected]. However, the data used in this study belongs to the Ministry of Economic (formerly the Ministry of Industry Trade and Labor) of the State of Israel, and therefore are not publicly available.