Special Report

The report, submitted to the Governor’s Commission on Welfare Reform, found that 38 percent of businesses surveyed said state income tax credits would make hiring welfare workers more appealing; 83 percent wanted protection from liability so that if they hired a welfare recipient the business could not later be sued if the employee was fired or put in a claim for worker’s compensation; and 36 percent would like to see the state pay the business a portion of the benefits the worker would receive if he or she remained on welfare.

Such incentives cost money, however, and the amount available for welfare is frozen by the new legislation, said Joel Sanders, head the welfare reform unit at the Alabama Department of Human Resources. He spoke at the Business Council of Alabama’s annual meeting in Birmingham Thursday.

Alabama has some factors working in its favor, according to Sanders.

Before the new welfare law was enacted, Alabama had been moving more people off its rolls than most other states. Since 1994, Alabama ranks eighth in the reduction of its welfare load, tied with Wisconsin which had a high profile welfare-reform program. Unemployment is low for the moment and industries in some parts of the state need workers.

But Alabama also limited its ability to offer incentives or improve its training and transportation programs. Because the state currently offers among the lowest level of Aid to Families to

Dependent Children in the country — second only to Mississippi — it would be hard to free up money by reducing benefits.

Federal support for child care has also been converted into a block grant. Rep. Jim Carns, R-Mountain Brook, who heads Gov. Fob James’ Welfare Reform Commission, points out that the state will get $11 million more than expected under the block grant because it has fewer people on welfare now than in 1994.

Currently, of the 40,000 people on AFDC, 19,000 get subsidized child care. The addition of as few as 4,000 to the child care pool eats up the extra, according to Sanders.

And while Alabama’s economy is healthy right now, an economic downturn could swell the rolls and pinch off any money for incentives. There would be no guarantee of an increase from the federal government.

Carns pointed out that Alabama’s economy is also going through a long-term shift that has accelerated in recent years. Low-wage, minimal skill for which welfare mothers would be qualified are moving to developing countries such as Mexico.

“I wish we had a magic bullet,” Carns said.

After the presentation, Douglas Rushing, a representative of Monsanto, approached Carns to explore how Monsanto could get involved. Monsanto has three plants in Alabama in Anniston, Decatur and in south Alabama. The difficulty for Monsanto is that most of the company’s entry-level jobs require education or training.

“We want to be one of the companies to get involved,” Rushing said. “What role can we find? I don’t really that right now.”