The Safety Net Should Work for Working Age Adults

Authors

Lauren Bauer, The Brookings Institution

Document Type

Lecture

Publication Date

3-26-2024

Publisher

Brookings Mountain West

Abstract

This lecture focuses attention on a population that is ill-served by the safety net but rarely acknowledged: low-income, working-age adults without dependents or government-determined disabilities. In this lecture, Brookings Scholar Lauren Bauer, a former Special Assistant in the Office of the Secretary at the US Department of Education, argues that a safety net that is inaccessible to ABAWDs (able-bodied adults without dependents) fails to recognize the precarious state of the low-wage labor market or how safety-net programs allow these workers to remain in the workforce. By modernizing the parameters of who qualifies for access to safety-net programs, assistance can be made available for low-income, working age Americans who have a vital, but often invisible role in the economy.

Keywords

Workforce; Low income; Labor; Assistance programs

Disciplines

Economic Policy | Economics | Inequality and Stratification | Public Affairs | Public Policy | Social Welfare

File Format

pdf

File Size

1.1 MB

Run Time

01:01:14

Streaming Media

Language

English

Repository Citation

Bauer, L. (2024). The Safety Net Should Work for Working Age Adults.
Available at: https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/brookings_lectures_events/159