The Role of Contingent Work in the War Against Poverty

Abstract

The 1990s witnessed the success of the work-based welfare reform initiated with the passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act in reducing welfare caseloads. While welfare reform was effective in lowering immediate welfare dependency, researchers have questioned its long-run success in alleviating poverty partially due to the precariousness surrounding the jobs held by welfare leavers. This paper addresses this concern by examining (1) the likelihood of taking a contingent job given one’s welfare dependency and past poverty status; (2) the probability of being on welfare for different types of contingent workers relative to their non-contingent counterparts; and (3) the likelihood of living in poverty in the near future as a function of past employment in alternative types of contingent jobs.