| Annie Georges
Pennsylvania State University
Entry into and exit out of poverty among women: Do education and job training make a difference?
FINAL REPORT:
The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) policy requires women and teenage mothers to earn a high school diploma or pass the general educational development (GED) test in exchange for temporary benefits. This basic requirement is in place to assist these women in finding employment that will reduce poverty. The objective of this thesis is to assess the effect of the GED test on entry into and exit out of poverty among women. It also evaluates the effects of employment and teen childbearing. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY), this study finds that women who pass the GED test have a higher probability of entry into and a lower probability of exit out of poverty than high schooi graduates. However, investing in the GED test offers some benefits because relative to high school dropouts GED holders have a lower probability of entry into and a higher probability of exit out of poverty. Moreover, GED holders.who continue on to college are equivalent to those with only a high school diploma. Although education matters for all women, blacks and Hispanics have a higher probability of entry into and a lower probability of exit out of poverty than whites. This suggests lower returns to education may be due to discrimination and occupational segregation that restrict blacks' and Hispanics' access to high-paying jobs. The analysis shows that it is the presence of additional children that significantly affects poverty, and not so much the timing of the first birth. It suggests that teenage mothers who have few subsequent births have the same probability of entry into and exit out of poverty as women who postpone birth. That is, as labor force participation is limited due to the presence of additional children the familiy's available resources are reduced while at the same time their needs are increasing. These factors combined increase the probability of poverty.
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