Abstract
This study uses Current Population Survey data and econometric techniques to examine whether working poor households improve their economic wellbeing by working more hours. For working households overall, full-time work puts them in a 49-78% better position than part-time work (as measured by resources-to-need and depending on methodology). For poor families, however, full-time work makes them 1.3-2.7% better off than part-time work. The latter finding reflects that the higher earnings of full-time work come at considerable cost: lower public assistance benefits and higher medical, work, and childcare expenditures. We discuss policies that may reduce these tradeoffs for poor working households.