Working Paper No. 184
January 01, 1997
The New Welfare
How Can It Be Improved?
During the summer of 1996, President Clinton signed what some consider to be the most
sweeping welfare reform since the initial adoption of public assistance programs in 1935. Resident Scholar Oren Levin-Waldman compares the old and new welfare laws, assesses some of the
possible effects of the new law, and provides policy prescriptions for how to combine existing welfare
programs, job training programs, and the unemployment insurance system to achieve a more comprehensive
and coherent employment program that meets individual needs and provides public services more efficiently.