Increasing Body Weight and the Transition From Welfare to Work: Findings from the National Survey of American Life (NSAL)

Purpose: Welfare reform has required most Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) recipients to work. As such, much policy interest in identifying barriers to work remains a worthy study topic. Though the prevalence of obesity is growing rapidly, especially among poor women, past research findings point to “hard-to-employ” characteristics such as depression,and learning disabilities without any attention to obesity (Cawley & Danziger, 2005; Corcoran et al., 2004). Further, these investigations analyzed samples located in one geographic area. To address the gap in knowledge, this investigation examined the relationship between body weight (obesity) and employment participation utilizing a nationally representative sample of welfare recipients. It was hypothesized that recipients with higher body weights would be least likely to work full-time. Further, this relationship would show racial differences.

Method: This study analyzed 1, 039 welfare recipients obtained from the National Survey of American Life (NSAL) data set; a nationally representative survey conducted between 2001 and 2003 through face-to-face computer-assisted personal interviews. The entire NSAL data set included a household probability sample of 3,570 African Americans, 1,621 Caribbean Blacks, and 891 non-Hispanic Whites aged 18 years and older. Work Status (DV), was measured dichotomously as full-time employment – 40 hours per work week (1) and less than full-time employment (0). Body mass index (BMI) categories were calculated from self-reported height and weight (weight [kg]/height [m2]) measurements and divided into: “normal weight”(BMI 18.5-24.99), “overweight” (BMI 25.0 - 29.99) and “obese” (BMI 30.0 or higher) (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute 1998). Logistic regression models assessed the relationship between obesity and employment status, controlling for age, education, marital status, and household income. Full sample and within racial group separate models were calculated. All statistical analysis utilized weights to correct for survey design effects.

Results: African Americans and whites reported the highest rates of obesity, 45% and 48%, respectively. Logistic regression analyses for the entire sample revealed that being obese or overweight did not significantly predict working full time, controlling for known covariates (OR = 0.860, p >.05; OR = 0.975, p > .05, respectively). However, the odds of working full-time were greater for African American and Caribbean Black women who were overweight than for this group of women who were not working (OR = 1.59, p< .05; OR = 6.32, p < .05, respectively). Interestingly, the odds of working full-time are less for white women who were overweight compared white women who were not working (OR = 0.9, p < .05).

Implications: This is one of the few investigations to document the relationship between weight and full-time work participation among the welfare population. In addition, the findings highlight racial differences in full-time labor force participation by body weight status. No statistically significant findings were found for the relationship between employment and obesity within any racial group. Though obesity's higher prevalence among poor is widely reported, interventions for increasing work participation for all welfare recipients should integrate body weight factors as a job readiness and retention discussion topic.