美國的社會福利改革及其省思

Abstract

本研究旨在探討美國福利政策改革的措施，以及施行六年來產生何種結果。 新法案Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (簡稱TANF)的目的在於降低單親媽媽對福利的依賴， 藉由協助子女照顧、提升職業訓練、預防及減少未婚懷孕以及鼓勵建立雙親家庭等措施，幫助福利 接受者就業。 初步施行的結果發現福利接受者的就業率確有增加，但深入研究發現，托兒支出是沈重的負 擔，托兒津貼使用率仍偏低，無法兼顧育兒與工作是單親媽媽們最大的就業障礙。且由於職業訓練 以短期立即就業為目標，並不鼓勵進修高等教育，因此他們仍無法獲得足夠的知識與技能，多從事 低收入且不穩定的工作，常有失業的狀況。這些就業障礙使得許多福利離開者最終又重回福利圈內。 福利改革中促進婚姻與家庭的措施施行由於研究不多，成效並不顯著。但根據雙親家庭以及子 女與父母同居狀況有增加可得知，家庭形成確實受到正面影響。 本文最後將由福利離開者是否確實脫離貧窮且達自給自足，來檢討福利改革的利弊得失並給予 建議。並以美國經驗為借鏡，供國內政策做為參考。

The purpose of this study intended to examine the measures and effects of welfare reform programs since 1996.The goal of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) is to decrease the welfare dependency of single mothers and encourage them to participate the labor market. The measures included childcare provision, job preparation promotion, out-of-wedlock pregnancies prevention, as well as two-parent family formation and maintenance. The preliminary result of welfare reform was the increase of employment rate of former welfare recipients. However, the further findings was that, childcare cost was too heavy a burden for the mothers, and most of them did not receive childcare subsidies. The strongest barrier to work for low-income single mothers was short of childcare. The short-term training emphasized on job readiness rather than post-secondary education. The lack of requisite skills limited women in low-income and unstable work; therefore they were often in joblessness. Finally the welfare leavers recycled back onto welfare because of multiple barriers to employment. There were rare studies on the effects of policies concerning to marriage promotion and two-parents families maintenance, therefore the effects were ambiguous. Still, according to the rising rate of two-parent family and children cohabitation with parents, personal decisions about marriage were influenced. Finally, implications and discussion of welfare reform by looking over whether the welfare leavers escaped economic hardship and be self-sufficient. The experience can be our reference resources.