The Self-Sufficiency Standard Tool Kit

At a time when many policy and programmatic decisions are being made at the state and local levels, the Standard provides a tool and a means to evaluate many different options. The discussion below should be seen as a partial list, as new uses and applications of the Standard continue to emerge.

The Self-Sufficiency Standard as a Policy Tool

The Self-Sufficiency Standard has a number of uses in the development and evaluation of policy in different areas. The Standard is a key component, for example, in the Targeting Higher-Wage Employment Strategy. This strategy uses the Standard to assess the ability of various jobs, occupations and sectors to provide self-sufficiency wages for workers. When combined with analysis of the current local labor market supply and demand (to determine jobs that have expanding but unfilled openings), an assessment of the available job training and education infrastructure, and an evaluation of the skills and location of current/potential workers.

The Standard has also been used to evaluate the impact of proposed policy changes such as restructuring subsidy programs, changing co-payment schedules or implementing reforms of various kinds. With the Standard it is possible to not only show the direct impact on family incomes, but to model the interaction effects of taxes, tax credits, and, where applicable, subsidies.

The Standard can also be used to target education and job training investments. Given the Self-Sufficiency Standard for most family types, the Standard can help make the case for investing in various types of post-secondary education. Education and training beyond high school provides access to a wide range of jobs paying self-sufficiency wages, and the broad range of skills that enable workers to move into jobs created by rapidly developing new technologies.

The Self-Sufficiency Standard as a Guideline for Wage-Setting

By determining the wages needed to meet basic needs, the Standard provides information for setting minimum and living wage standards. It was used precisely this way by the Center for the Child Care Workforce, which developed specific guidelines for each county/school district in California for child care workers' salaries. It has also been used by private agencies, such as community action agencies, to evaluate the adequacy of their own salary schedules.

The Self-Sufficiency Standard as a Benchmark for Evaluation

The Standard can be used to evaluate outcomes for a wide range of programs that result in employment, from short-term job search and placement programs, to programs providing extensive education and/or job training. By evaluating outcomes in terms of self-sufficiency, programs are using a measure of true effectiveness, because the failure of programs to achieve self-sufficiency wages for participants impacts on the ability of them to meet their families' needs adequately. Such evaluations can help redirect resources to the types of approaches that result in improved outcomes for participants.

The Self-Sufficiency Standard as a Counseling Tool

The Standard can be used as a counseling tool, to help participants in work and training programs make choices among various occupations and jobs. The Pennsylvania Family Economic Self-Sufficiency (PAFESS) project has worked with over 1,200 case managers and social service administrators across the state to use the Self-Sufficiency Standard as a counseling tool to demonstrate the real costs of becoming economically independent. Through use of the Standard, PAFESS has encouraged social service providers to talk about higher-wage and nontraditional jobs and the importance of career ladders with their clients.

The Self-Sufficiency Standard Budget Worksheet

The Standard has also been used to develop the Self-Sufficiency Standard Budget Worksheet in Pennsylvania, a tool that counselors and clients can use to "test" the ability of various wages to meet a family's self-sufficiency needs. The Worksheet facilitates a dialogue between counselor and client around choice of an initial job, job training opportunities and career paths. With the information provided by the Standard, clients can make informed decisions about what kinds of training would most likely lead to self-sufficiency wages, which jobs would best provide the resources they need, and what types of Microenterprise or Individual Development Account strategies may, alone or together with paid employment, provide a path to self-sufficiency for themselves and their families. Contact Jane Eleey, Women's Association for Women's Alternatives, (610) 543-5022 or jeleey@womensassoc.org.