Marriage Promotion Policies and the Working Poor: A Match Made in Heaven?

Abstract

David Shipler's book, The Working Poor explores the lives and troubles of the working poor in post-welfare-reform America. "While Shipler concludes that programs such as universal health care and equity in public school funding would greatly assist the working poor, the Bush administration and Congress have focused on a very different solution: marriage promotion programs. This Book Review investigates marriage promotion programs to determine whether these programs would help working poor single-parent families escape poverty, and thus would be a viable alternative to Shipler's suggestions. In the end, this Book Review concludes that these programs are well intentioned, but do not significantly assist the working poor.