Helping Mothers Escape Poverty: As European Policy Shows, Better Wages and Generous Supports are a Better Cure than Promoting Marriage

Karen Christopher ()

No 298, LIS Working papers from LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg

Abstract: The belief that single motherhood is the pre-eminent cause of poverty in America has become a bipartisan cliché. The welfare reform enacted in 1996 was designed, among other things, to discourage single parenthood and to promote marriage. Yet a look at the experiences and policies of other nations suggests a more complex story of the causes and cure of poverty. Evidence from Europe shows that the remedy is increasing the economic resources available to low-income families-through better paying jobs that relieve poverty directly and social supports that reconcile paid employment with reliable parenting.

Pages: 11 pages
Date: 2002-04
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Published in Published as Family-friendly Europe in The American Prospect 13, no. 7 (April 8, 2002): 59-61.

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:lis:liswps:298

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