Families on TANF in South Carolina: Employment Assets and Liabilities

This report presents findings on the characteristics and employment barriers of families receiving TANF benefits in South Carolina's Family Independence (FI) Program. The study included in-depth telephone interviews with 1,120 case heads of families receiving TANF benefits in South Carolina during June 2002, in a research design stratified to include recipients who had received exemptions from work requirements and recipients who had been granted extensions of the time limits, as well as recipients "mandatory to work" without an exemption or time-limit extension. Administrative records data were also compiled from the TANF and food stamp histories of the families in the sample. Finally, to examine health barriers, information was gathered on hospital emergency department visits and hospitalizations among TANF families.