Why should an employer hire a former welfare client?What human resource management practices can help employers retain former welfare clients? This study addresses these questions against the backdrop of changes in welfare legislation in the United States that have lessened support to welfare clients and their families and emphasized movement into the workplace. We conducted a large‐scale empirical study of the effectiveness of a wide range of HRM practices and found that higher wages, better financial and health benefits, and development opportunities were positively associated with job retention. Unexpectedly, supervisory training had no relationship to retention, and appraising supervisors on providing a supportive and inclusive work environment showed a negative relationship. We provide suggestions to employers for improving the job retention of former welfare recipients along with directions for additional research. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Legislation has shifted power and authority for welfare policies and programs to the states, with few federal guidelines. However, the intent was clearly to move people from welfare to work. Nonprofit organizations have played a major role in providing jobs for this population, along with the public and for-profit sectors. A critical issue is what nonprofits and other employers, through their human resource (HR) practices, can do to enhance the job retention of former welfare clients. The authors conducted a large-scale empirical study that examined effects of a broad range of HR practices associated with the retention of welfare clients in the nonprofit, for-profit, and public sectors. Results indicate that job retention is higher in the nonprofit sector compared to the others, and that this retention may be a result of HR practices that emphasize investment in and commitment to employees. Implications for public policy are also presented.

Radal segregation in schools and ndghborhoods in the United States is stark and persistent. The results of this research provide clues as to why it may be so enduring. We find that as predominantly white schools in the Philadelphia Metropolitan Area experience increases in black representation of up to seven percentage points during a four-to fiveyear period, white neighborhood residents are more likely to perceive that the quality of their schools has declined, despite the current conditions of the schools and in spite of changes in school characteristics. Our results are more consistent with radal threat theory than contad theory because they suggest that white residents may initially be threatened by radal change and judge declining school quality according to the radal change itself. As a consequence, white families may fiee these integrating schools and neighborhoods, further contributing to school and neighborhood segregation.