The Uncertain Hour
Marketplace
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Each season, we explain the weird, complicated and often unequal American economy — and why some people get ahead and some get left behind. Host Krissy Clark dives into obscure policies and forgotten histories to explain why America is like it is.
The latest season examines the “welfare-to-work industrial complex” and the multi-million dollar companies running today’s for-profit welfare centers.
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The Uncertain Hour
Apr 19, 2023
Chapter 5: Profits and Perverse Incentives
Antoine Dukes is a natural born salesman. And when he started working for a for-profit welfare company, he figured it was a good way to put his skills to work helping needy Americans find jobs that would get them back on their feet.
But when he tried to avoid sending people to minimum wage jobs, something happened that made him realize that these welfare companies are rewarded with taxpayer dollars for getting welfare recipients into just about any job, even if the job would not support their family and would leave them still needing government help to make ends meet.
In this episode, host Krissy Cark sheds light on this opaque business model — and has a frank conversation with the founder of America Works, one of the first for-profit welfare-to-work companies in the country.
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The Uncertain Hour
Apr 26, 2023
Chapter 6: The Welfare to Temp Work Pipeline
Since the 1990s, most cash welfare recipients have been required to get a job or do mandated “work activities” to receive their monthly check. These requirements are intended to help parents who are struggling financially into jobs that will help keep them out of poverty and off government benefits. But is the work requirement system meeting either of those goals?
According to our analysis of data from Wisconsin, an average of nearly 70% of employed welfare participants worked at temp companies. These companies put people to work in other companies, trying to fill temporary jobs where the work is often grueling and the pay low.
Welfare-to-work has been so good for temp agencies that some of them actively lobby for more work requirements for government benefits through campaign contributions and white papers. “It gives us a pool of more people we can help,” said the CEO of one temp company whose franchises have ranked among the top 10 employers of Wisconsin welfare participants. “A person loses self-esteem when they don’t go back to work. Whether it’s voluntary or involuntary work is very important for their psyche.”
On this episode, host Krissy Clark looks at the cozy relationship between for-profit welfare companies and temp companies desperate to put people to work in some of the country’s most precarious jobs. Plus, a frank discussion with an architect of our modern welfare-to-work system, former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson.
For a deeper dive into the numbers about how private welfare contractors make money and some other eye-popping data, check out the work of our colleagues at APM Research Lab.
Give today to help cover the costs of this rigorous reporting. Every donation makes a difference!
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The Uncertain Hour
Apr 12, 2023
Chapter 4: The Battle of Newburgh
In 1961, city officials in Newburgh, New York, declared war on their poorest residents by proclaiming, without evidence, that the city was overrun by welfare cheats. It was a moment in history when the belief that certain people need to be forced to work gained influence in our country’s system to help poor people.
Officials led by City Manager Joseph Mitchell launched a campaign of harsh crackdowns on welfare recipients that included surprise police interrogations, rigid eligibility restrictions and forcing able-bodied men to work to receive a welfare check. But were these new rules designed to reduce welfare fraud or to target members of the city’s Black community?
After a national controversy erupted over Newburgh’s welfare rules, the city found itself at the center of a fight over welfare policy that’s still playing out today.
Producer Peter Balonon-Rosen takes us back to Newburgh to tell the story of its war on welfare and how race became central in a battle over welfare policy.
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Marketplace
May 16, 2023
Maybe reconsider those “normal” economic indicators
April retail sales numbers are making an already confusing economy even more confusing. Folks are putting off purchasing big-ticket items, yet are still splurging on services. The economy hasn’t returned to normal, but maybe “normal” is different now. We’ll also look at whether Congress can regulate artificial intelligence and who gets a leg up from welfare reform and work requirements, courtesy of Marketplace’s podcast “The Uncertain Hour.”
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Marketplace Morning Report
May 22, 2023
Inside the discriminatory origins of welfare work requirements
The scramble to raise the nation’s debt ceiling has featured prominent calls by Republicans to impose stricter work requirements for recipients of welfare. But today’s debate on Capitol Hill stems from a much older fight over how the poor qualify for benefits. We spoke with Krissy Clark, host of Marketplace’s investigative podcast The Uncertain Hour, about how racial bias played into the formation and early implementation of the rules we know today. And, this summer travel season may be record-setting, according to experts, as the pandemic emergency officially comes to an end worldwide.
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