Jobs First: Final Report on Connecticut’s Welfare Reform Initiative

Since its launch in 1996, Connecticut’s Jobs First program has attracted national attention because it includes all the key elements of the 1990s welfare reforms: time limits, financial work incentives, and work requirements. Specifically, Jobs First limits families to 21 cumulative months of cash assistance unless they receive an exemption or extension. It includes an unusually generous financial work incentive that allows employed recipients to retain their full welfare grant as long as they earn less than the federal poverty level. And it requires recipients to work or to participate in employment services designed to help them find jobs quickly.

https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/opre/ct_jobsfirst.pdf