The Bush administration is moving to allow states to place welfare recipients in jobs that pay less than minimum wage'a reversal of federal policy that is sparking ire among public employee unions and advocates for the poor.
The White House idea is that such cut-rate jobs could provide work experience for many thousands of welfare recipients who have not moved into the labor force. Such work could take the form of community service, including tasks like cleaning up parks and helping out in offices.
The Bush administration has concluded that this \supervised work experience"" does not amount to a real-world job and should not be governed by the Fair Labor Standards Act, which sets the national minimum wage at $5.15 an hour, officials said Tuesday. Some states have higher minimums.
