Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development

W-2 Enrollment up in March

Madison, Wis. – Almost 1,000 Wisconsin families escaped welfare and achieved self-sufficiency in March. The number of families dependent on cash assistance from the government dropped by 6.8 percent in March to a total of 13,342, compared to 14,309 in February.

Most of those 13,342 were still depending on a government grant -- 10,415 were enrolled in the W-2 job training program. The remaining 2,927 were still in the AFDC program. The last AFDC checks were mailed on April 2.

Enrollment in W-2 rose by 22 percent in March over the previous month, a state official said today.

Linda Stewart, Secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development which administers the program statewide, said a total of 16,420 families were enrolled in Wisconsin Works, or W-2, on March 31. That includes those in the subsidized, job training levels and those who had landed jobs and were receiving a payroll check. All qualify for such W-2 services as subsidized child care, transportation aids, and financial and employment planning. But they were working and receiving a payroll check.

It was the highest number of W-2 placements yet for any month since the program got underway last September. The Feb. 28 total was 15,436.

Milwaukee County accounted for 80 percent of all enrollments in March, Stewart said, compared to 74 percent in February.

Nearly 30 percent of the families were in unsubsidized jobs, she added, or about the same as a month earlier. About 59 percent were in community service jobs, while the rest were in trial or transition jobs.

March also was the month in which the welfare program that W-2 replaced -- AFDC -- produced the last checks ever to be issued. Wisconsin is the first state to fully engage its welfare-to-work program.

"I'm pleased that the challenge of conversion is over and that we can now focus even more on assisting individuals in moving up the ladder to self-sufficiency," Stewart said.

"What I thought was most notable during the conversion process was how hard the W-2 agencies worked to ensure former AFDC recipients were aware of and took advantage of the services available to them under W-2. This months numbers show more individuals are coming in as a result of the end of AFDC.

"I commend the W-2 agencies around the state for their excellent performance in completing the conversion from AFDC to W-2."