The Economic Roundtable, a nonprofit research group, has released a report stating that 78% of current and former welfare recipients, who enter the labor force in Los Angeles County through the welfare-to-work program, still earn incomes below the poverty threshold. Authors of the report claim that an emphasis on swift employment rather than education and training has kept welfare recipients in very low-paying jobs. County officials argue that they do offer some vocational training programs, but they must take into account the costs of offering these options.
See "Study Says Welfare-to-Work Reforms Leave Recipients Below Poverty Line", Carla Rivera, Los Angeles Times, July 22, 2003