Lessons Learned from TANF Emergency Fund Support of Subsidized Employment

CLASP and the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) recently released a report, Creating Subsidized Employment Opportunities for Low-Income Parents: The Legacy of the TANF Emergency Fund, that is based on their telephone survey of the subsidized employment programs funded all or in part with the TANF Emergency Fund. These programs, many of which were in operation for less than two years, were able to place about 260,000 low-income individuals in subsidized jobs.   Thirty-nine states and D.C. had created new subsidized employment programs or expanded existing ones by the time the TANF Emergency Fund expired on September 30, 2010.

The report hihglights specific policy implications based on lessons learned from state experiences:

It is possible (though challenging) to get large-scale, countercyclical job creation programs up and running relatively quickly and to engage the private sector in creating job opportunities.


Subsidized jobs targeted to disadvantaged individuals benefit not only participating workers and businesses but also entire communities and society at large.


Flexibility makes success possible in many different environments.


New targeted funding can provide the catalyst for innovation and increased collaboration.


Subsidized employment programs can be implemented at reasonable cost.


Subsidized employment programs serve a variety of purposes; their performance should be judged on measures that are consistent with their purpose.

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