Whose Job Is It? Employers' Views on Welfare Reform

This paper describes selected results from qualitative telephone interviews with 130 Minnesota employers who participated in local welfare-to-work partnerships with social service agencies and other community members. Differences among rural and urban/suburban employers are examined and comparsions are explored between welfare participants and employer views on service needs and barriers to self-sufficiency. Very few differences emerged between urban/suburban and rural employers, although urban/suburban businesses appeared to be more affected by the tight labor market and thus more open to flexible hiring policies. Employers identified lack of "soft skills" as the primary barrier to workforce participation, while welfare participants themselves cited structural problems such as low wages and lack of education and child care as their primary obstacles to self-sufficiency. Employers reported that involvement in the local partnerships was valuable for recruiting employees, and that such partnerships had a rold to play supporting workers for improved training, retention, and work/life balance. These findings suggest that local partnerships between employers, government, and social service providers can help make welfare reform successful by helping at least some welfare recipients begin to work and become self-sufficient. These ends can best be met if all the partners agree on clear and consistent goals that include genuine efforts to understand and meet employers' needs, and if social service providers are prepared to commit to on-going support services for welfare recipients after they are hired.