Abstract
The goal of this study was to examine how drug using welfare recipient's employment behaviors (i.e. expectations, employment commitment, job search self-efficacy, job-seeking support from friends, economic hardship and anxiety) effected employment-seeking behavior and its effect on their welfare to work mandate. Regression analyses were used to estimate the effect of the above seven psychosocial domains on employment-seeking behaviors and job search intensity on a sample of 222 welfare-to-work recipients. The results show that psychological domains affected drug users and non-drug users differently as they searched for employment. Specifically, the results showed that self-efficacy and anxiety were negatively related to job seeking behaviors, but economic hardship was positively related to job seeking behavior. In addition, job expectations and economic hardship were both positively related to job-search intensity. This paper has shown that psychosocial domains such as motivation and job search efficacy are good predictors of employment seeking behaviors however, the results do suggest that these factors are not as powerful among a drug using population. Thus, specific interventions must be developed for drug using welfare recipients if they are expected to exit welfare and integrate into the labor force successfully.