"Outcomes for the Income Maintenance Caseload During Receipt" examines the effect that welfare reform has had on the AFDC and TANF caseloads in the state of Illinois between 1990 and 1999. In particular, the paper shows that the influence of the Work Pays program, which allows TANF recipients to keep much of their cash assistance grants provided that they work at least 30 hours a week, has helped reform welfare. The authors conclude that fewer people have been entering the cash assistance program, more people are leaving the program, and of those who leave, fewer are returning. Prior to the Work Pays program, many people returned to cash assistance four or five months after leaving it. Under Work Pays, use of cash assistance decreased but recipients' earnings also rose, the duration of cash assistance receipt became shorter, and the length of the time periods between episodes of cash assistance grew longer. The authors suggest that these changes may stem from aspects of work pays, particularly its earnings disregards.

In "Outcomes for the Income Maintenance Caseload After Receipt," the authors use longitudinal information on reported earnings to track people after they have left the income maintenance caseload to determine whether or not they are working after they leave and to examine their employment history. Analysis of employment and earnings data from Illinois recipients of federal cash assistance (AFDC/TANF) indicates that improvements in employment outcomes after leaving cash assistance may be far more modest than progress observed in helping recipients make the transition from welfare to work while receiving cash assistance.