EXAMPLE 8 Helping welfare mothers find jobs

The Urban Institute in Washington DC reports that most adult welfare recipients are single mothers in their 20s and 30s with one or two children. Observational studies of welfare mothers show that many are able to increase their earnings and leave the welfare system. Some take advantage of voluntary job-training programs to improve their skills. Should participation in job-training and job-search programs be required of all able-bodied welfare mothers? Observational studies of the current system cannot tell us what the effects of such a policy would be. Even if the mothers studied are a properly chosen sample of all welfare recipients, those who seek out training and find jobs may differ in many ways from those who do not. They are observed to have more education, for example, but they may also differ in values and motivation, things that cannot be observed.

To see if a required jobs program will help mothers escape welfare, such a program must actually be tried. Choose two similar groups of mothers when they apply for welfare. Require one group to participate in a job-training program, but do not offer the program to the other group. This is an experiment. Comparing the income and work record of the two groups after several years will show whether requiring training has the desired effect.