Idaho Won’t Hit Federal Welfare To Work Goal

Idaho won’t meet a federal demand that most of its two-parent welfare families get back to work by spring.

In fact, the state won’t even come close, officials said.

“I can tell you with bold certainty that we’re not going to meet our participation rate,” said Alan Rowland, the state’s deputy administrator for welfare. “We don’t see anything short of a miracle making it happen.”

But while that admission could lead Congress to cut federal grants to the state, welfare administrators say they’re not concerned.

Since more than half of the states are in the same position, the Clinton administration reportedly is considering softening the requirement.

In addition, a spat between the administration and Congress is making the guidelines tougher to meet.

Last year’s federal welfare reform package required that 75 percent of all two-parent households receiving welfare be employed by March 1998. Technically, the deadline was Oct. 1, the start of the fiscal year, but states don’t have to report their success rates until spring.

That means both parents must work, and the two together must work at least 35 hours each week combined.

It’s a deceptively difficult goal to meet, Idaho officials say.

Two people must find jobs on alternating schedules. If they find good jobs and drop off the welfare rolls, they are not counted as part of the 75 percent. Those who remain often have limited job skills, making them the most difficult to employ.

And officials say the guideline doesn’t credit the state for the number of two-parent households that have dropped off welfare.

“Whether we’re making progress in welfare reform is a whole separate issue,” said Steve McKenna, welfare reform manager for North Idaho.

Two-parent households typically make up only a small portion of welfare recipients - about 7 percent nationwide, and 4 percent in North Idaho. Statewide, there are only 70 two-parent families still on welfare.

As of January, only 47 of North Idaho’s 1,100 welfare households were two-parent families.

Since that time, the region’s entire welfare case load has dropped to about 200. Officials suspect the number of two-parent welfare families has dropped at a similar rate, leaving only a handful.

Yet it’s those families federal guidelines address.

And the feds are making it the guidelines tougher to meet, Idaho officials say.

The Clinton administration wants welfare recipients who are in job training programs to be paid at least minimum wage. Republicans in Congress - and some governors - don’t.

As a result, many Idaho companies won’t offer training programs.

“We had a lot of employers willing to provide on-the-job training, teaching real-life skills,” said Idaho Health and Welfare spokesman Ross Mason. “But now they’re saying ‘We can’t necessarily pay minimum wage.’ That puts a real monkey-wrench in the gears.”

So the state has temporarily scrapped its job-training program until bickering ceases in Washington D.C., he said.

And it’s not clear how long the dispute will continue.

“We don’t expect a change in the foreseeable future,” he said. You have Congress looking at one way and Clinton looking another way.”

, DataTimes