TANF and Work: The Gap Between Perception and Reality

Issue Brief - June 2026This issue brief finds that the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families’s (TANF) federal accountability system for state work performance is far weaker in practice than many assume. In FY 2024, only eight percent of all TANF families had someone working enough hours in unsubsidized employment to count under TANF’s federal work participation measure, while more than half of families with a work-eligible individual reported zero hours of participation in work-related activities. The brief explains that while federal law sets a 50 percent work participation target, that is not the target most states actually face: in FY 2024, 39 states reduced their target to zero percent through the caseload reduction credit. Even where reported work rates appear higher, the brief finds that states often rely on loopholes, including “token payment” cases, excess MOE reporting, solely state-funded programs, and weak penalty procedures, to avoid TANF’s core work requirement without meaningfully increasing work engagement. In practice, TANF’s work requirement now often rewards paperwork and accounting strategies more than actual movement from welfare to work.