The Impact of Benefits Cliffs and Asset Limits on Low-Wage Workers: New Evidence From a Nationally Representative Survey
This report presents new national survey data showing how benefits cliffs and asset limits negatively affect the economic mobility of low-wage workers in the U.S.
Authored by researchers at the Center for Social Development at Washington University in St. Louis, this brief uses data from over 2,500 low-wage workers to examine how public benefits policies—particularly strict income and asset limits—discourage employment and saving.
The study reveals that over one in five benefit recipients took actions such as turning down work, keeping savings low, or not getting married in order to remain eligible for benefits. It concludes with policy recommendations like raising limits, offering transitional benefits, and phasing out support more gradually to reduce these disincentives and support long-term economic stability.
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