Low-income parents who participate in TANF need better, more accessible job training and support services to obtain family-sustaining work. To accomplish this, it’s important to coordinate TANF’s employment programs with federal workforce development services under WIOA. States are very interested in coordinating their programs, but progress has been slow.
Low-income workers struggle to stay employed and advance in their careers. Lack of basic skills, employer instability, and other barriers can lead to chronic unemployment or trap them in low-wage work. That’s why CLASP advocates for federal, state, and local policies that expand access to transitional jobs, which provide time-limited subsidies to businesses that hire workers with employment barriers. This enables employers to pay workers so they can learn on the job and develop marketable skills leading to higher-wage work.