Policy Memo
Topline
Welfare should help Americans achieve work and upward mobility—not trap them in a web of complicated and often conflicting welfare programs.
Affordability 101 · Chapter 10: Accountability and Oversight
Plymouth Institute for Free Enterprise
Welfare should help Americans achieve work and upward mobility—not trap them in a web of complicated and often conflicting welfare programs.
The federal government has upwards of 90 often duplicative, disjointed, and ineffective welfare and workforce programs spread across dozens of federal agencies and flowing to thousands of state and local agencies and programs. Navigating the web of welfare programs can be extremely confusing, and too many people end up trapped in welfare instead of assisted into work and independence. Utah offers a more successful “one door” alternative: individuals enter just one door—the Department of Workforce Services—and work with just one employment counselor for all of their welfare and workforce needs. Utah’s consolidated system is simpler and more efficient for government administrators. It provides consistency in services and shared efficiencies across locations while also providing flexibility for local leaders to meet community-specific needs.
The success of Utah’s consolidation from more than 36 welfare services spread across five agencies into one system is undeniable. Based on the most recent data from 2024, Utah’s employment-population ratio (66.7) was 6.1 percentage points higher than the U.S. average. That’s the equivalent of 16.8 million more workers if spread across the entire United States. More workers equals more growth and lower welfare costs. Since 2017, Utah’s real GDP has grown 40%, nearly twice the 22% growth for the U.S. as a whole. And while the federal debt continues to climb to historic highs, Utah’s debt burden fell to its lowest level in more than 40 years, even as the state enacted multiple rounds of tax cuts since 2021. While Utah was grandfathered into maintaining its one-door model, federal law prohibits other states from adopting similar consolidations.
Related Legislation: One Door to Work Act (H.R. 2651).
Duplicative and ineffective welfare programs raise costs for taxpayers and do a disservice to welfare recipients by limiting incomes and opportunities.
This memo is part of Affordability 101, Advancing American Freedom’s playbook of 101 policy solutions to make life more affordable.