If you are working a part-time or minimum wage job, most of your paycheck goes to babysitters and child care needs. This leaves little for rent, bills, and groceries. If you quit your job then the child care costs are eliminated because you will be home with the children, and you qualify for welfare which would provide you with more than you could earn by having a job. Another reason is transportation. If you can barely afford child care, you rent, bills, and groceries, gas and car trouble just don't fit into the picture. And, if you don't live in a city with public transportation, getting to a job is the whole problem. These are just a few reasons why some mothers are driven to go onto welfare.
So why is it so hard for women to get off of welfare once they've started? "In the 1990's, studies show that families headed by working single mothers experienced rising earnings due to the strong economy, work supports like the Earned Income Tax Credit and child care, and a reformed welfare system. Yet these increased earnings were fully offset by a decline in the benefits that government safety net programs provided." (Edin & Lein, 1997) This decline in benefits leaves the people who did not have increased earnings deeper into poverty, making the poor that much poorer. "The benefits from working poor mothers had from government safety programs expanded, adding increased earnings and reduced poverty. But these benefits cancelled out income gains from higher earnings and resulted in no progress in reducing poverty despite the growing economy." (Edin & Lein, 1997) The fact is that even with the possibility of increased earnings of a working mother, governmental aide programs are vital to keep these women out of poverty. Most women once on welfare aren't able to come off of it because it's hard to find a job that paid at least $32,000 a year- the point at which government income support is withdrawn.