Madison, Wis. – Hundreds of thousands of people across Wisconsin could experience a positive impact from the expansion of child care benefits included in the state budget last week, signaling major progress toward reducing the benefits cliff.
“We can all agree that workforce development solutions that benefit working families and keep people advancing in their careers is good for our community,” said Graham Anderson, founder of the Benefits Cliff Coalition. “This change will not only help address the worker shortage in Wisconsin, but help people progress in their careers and their lives.”
Earlier this year, the Benefits Cliff Coalition, which represents thousands of working families across Wisconsin, was formed to address workforce issues in our state by reducing employment and promotion disincentives currently baked into the state’s benefits system. Under the current system, public benefits can be fully revoked when workers reach a certain pay threshold. With the expansion of the child care credit, these benefits will be more gradually stepped back to allow workers to continue to accept promotions and higher-paying jobs without the risk of fully losing necessary benefits.
“The benefits cliff issue is proof that we all have the ability to drive positive changes in our state,” said Ian Abston, founder of Hoan, a member of the Benefits Cliff Coalition. “With remarkable speed, this group came together to solve a problem and impact public policy for the betterment of our city, region and state.”
The measure to expand the Child Care Benefit and reduce the benefits cliff is expected to be advanced by the Joint Committee on Finance the week of June 26.
