The Relationship between the Working Poor and Public Assistance

Due to its strict poverty measure, the old poor were composed of the old, the sick, the young, and the disabled. However, globalization changes the structure of labor market, more and more working poor depend on public aid to support their families.

The old system faces the new challenge in getting the working poor out of poverty in a short period of time to avoid the concerns for family breakup, work disincentives, and welfare dependency as a result of welfare use. The study interviewed administrators about the model of social assistance in an in-depth way, who was in charge of means tested and funding in the local government. Moreover, one hundred and fifty-three registered low-income families and 118 families who just exit out of public assistance last year.