APPENDIX 8
The Employer Perspective: Jobs Held by the Milwaukee
County AFDC Single Parent Population (January 1996-March 1997)
by John Pawasarat, Employment and Training Institute, University
of Wisconsin - Milwaulkee
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This report examines the 42,120 jobs held by single parents
who were on AFDC in Milwaukee County in December 1995 and who
are expected to work under "W-2," Wisconsin's new welfare
initiative. The Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development
matched all quarterly wages paid by Wisconsin employers over five
quarters (January 1996 through March 1997) with the single parent
population on AFDC (N=25,125). The data showed a total of 18,126
AFDC caseheads had employment at least some time during the five
quarters examined. All jobs held with these employers and paying
wages were analyzed. (The study did not analyze failed hires which
resulted in no wages being paid). These DWD employment records
offer a first look at the employer experience with single parent
AFDC recipients expected to work under W-2 requirements and provide
baseline data on the employment experiences of the AFDC population
in 1996 and early 1997.
- A total of 4,418 employers (not including temporary
employment agencies) employed AFDC recipients during the five
quarter study period in a total of 29,549 jobs. Over half of the
companies hired only one AFDC single parent during the fifteen-month
period and three-fourths hired fewer than four AFDC single parents.
At the other end of the spectrum, 39 companies employed over 100
single parents (for a total of 7,991 workers). These 39 companies
accounted for 27 percent of all non-temp jobs held by single parents
in the study population. Another 62 employers hired 50-100 AFDC
workers, accounting for 24 per cent of the non-temp jobs held
by AFDC single parents.
Employers Hiring AFDC Single Parents
- Most jobs held by AFDC single parents were concentrated
in temp agencies (30 per cent of total jobs), retail trade (23
per cent), or hotel/auto/business/personal services (13 per cent)
- those sectors most likely to have entry-level job openings but
least likely to provide sustained full-time employment.
- Temporary help agencies were used by 7,592 caseheads,
or 42 per cent of the AFDC population employed sometime during
the five quarters studied. For many single parents, temp agencies
provided an entry point into the labour market, but often on a
part-time or short-term basis. Job turnover was a problem even
for employment with temp agencies, where 45 to 55 per cent of
new hires failed to post $500 in total wages.
- Non-temp jobs were heavily concentrated in a few
types of businesses - eating/drinking establishments (15 per cent
of total jobs), nursing homes (11 per cent), department stores
(5 per cent) grocery stores (4 per cent), and building maintenance
(4 per cent).
- Seventy-five per cent of single parents who entered
the labour force in Second Quarter (April-June) 1996 were no longer
employed by First Quarter (January-March) 1997. New entrants to
the labour force showed poorer retention rates than workers already
employed in the first quarter of the study. Many hires failed
almost immediately with only 58 per cent of Quarter 2 and Quarter
3 entrants employed one quarter later. Of those single parents
entering the labour force in Fourth Quarter 1996, only 54 per
cent still had the same job in First Quarter 1997.
Percent of Jobs Retained After Quarter Hired
- Four measures were used to track unsuccessful employment
episodes. Nine per cent of jobs held in 1996 with non-temp companies
failed to pay $100 in total wages over the five quarters studied,
28 per cent paid less than $500 in wages, 41 per cent paid less
than $1,000 in total wages, and 65 per cent failed to continue
into 1997. Failed employment events were highest in retail trade
and auto, hotel, business and personal services.
- Only 14 per cent of jobs acquired by single parents
in 1996 paid full-time wages (at least $2,500) in First Quarter
1997. Jobs held by workers with schooling beyond high school were
twice as likely to continue full-time than jobs held by parents
with less than 12 years schooling.
Percent of 1996 Job Starts Paying Full-Time Wages in First Quarter 1997
- Most jobs paying family supporting wages (at least
$4,000 per quarter, or poverty level for a family of four) for
two consecutive quarters were held by individuals with 12 years
of schooling (49 per cent) or more than 12 years of schooling
(32 per cent). These jobs were concentrated in health (particularly
with hospitals and nursing homes), manufacturing, education and
social services. In Fourth Quarter 1996, 818 jobs (only 4 per
cent of the total 19,074 jobs held) resulted in employment that
paid family-supporting wages for two consecutive quarters.
Jobs Paying Family-Supporting Wages by Industry
- One out of ten new hires in Second, Third and Fourth
Quarters of 1996 ended almost immediately with less than $100
paid out in wages. These failed jobs were concentrated primarily
in retail sales and hotel/auto/business/personal services. One-third
of the jobs started in Quarters 2 or 3 ended with less than $500
earnings and 45 per cent failed to reach at least $1,000 in earnings.
Analysis of jobs entered after March 31, 1996: Retention
rates and total wages earned
| Years of schooling of workers:
| |
| Earnings History | More than 12 years
|
12 years | Less than
12 years
|
Total |
| New Hires Second Quarter 1996 (N=) | 605
| 2,111 | 2,072 | 5,014
|
| Per cent with Total Wages from Job of:
|
| Less than $100 | 9 per cent |
10 per cent | 12 per cent | 11 per cent
|
| Less than $500 | 26 per cent
| 29 per cent | 38 per cent |
33 per cent |
| Less than $1,000 | 37 per cent
| 41 per cent | 51 per cent |
45 per cent |
| Jobs with No Wages in First Quarter 1997 |
68 per cent | 73 per cent | 79 per cent
| 75 per cent |
| New Hires Third Quarter 1996 (N=) | 644
| 2,252 | 2,143 | 5,259
|
| Percent with Total Wages from Job of:
|
| Less than $100 | 8 per cent |
10 per cent | 13 per cent | 11 per cent
|
| Less than $500 | 22 per cent
| 31 per cent | 38 per cent |
33 per cent |
| Less than $1,000 | 32 per cent
| 42 per cent | 52 per cent |
45 per cent |
| Jobs with No Wages in First Quarter 1997 |
55 per cent | 65 per cent | 72 per cent
| 66 per cent |
| New Hires Fourth Quarter 1996 (N=) | 571
| 2,181 | 2,348 | 5,333
|
| Percent with Total wages from Job of:
|
| Less than $100 | 8 per cent |
11 per cent | 12 per cent | 11 per cent
|
| Less than $500 | 23 per cent
| 27 per cent | 32 per cent |
29 per cent |
| Less than $1,000 | 30 per cent
| 37 per cent | 41 per cent |
38 per cent |
| Jobs with No Wages in First Quarter 1997 |
38 per cent | 45 per cent | 50 per cent
| 46 per cent |
- Wages for jobs with both temporary employment agencies
and non-temp employers were examined to track the movement of
workers from "temp" employment into non-temp jobs with
steady wages. Only 5 per cent of the single parents who used temp
agencies had First Quarter 1997 non-temp earnings of $4,000 or
more and only 15 per cent posted non-temp earnings of at least
$2,500 (full-time employment at minimum wage) in First Quarter
1997. Most of the 465 single parents who moved into what could
be considered a successful "temp to perm" pattern had
the characteristics of the population most likely to leave AFDC
with or without a temp job placement, i.e., 69 per cent had 12
or more years of schooling and 57 per cent were already employed
in First Quarter 1996 at the start of the study period.
|
