When people apply for TANF?

Do employers receive a tax credit for hiring people who receive public assistance -- or TANF?

• Answer:

  As Jordan pointed out, there is something called the Work Opportunity Tax Credit for certain targeted groups, including veterans, ex-felons, and those receiving different forms of public assistance. It could also be argued that the opposite is somewhat true as well. I have heard it suggested that companies paying such low wages that their employees require public assistance like TANF (formerly known as welfare) and SNAP (food stamps) are essentially getting a government subsidy. This is clearly a provocative idea but I guess the argument is that if the taxpayers weren't supplementing their workers' incomes, they couldn't pay such low wages. I heard/read this as an argument for a higher minimum wage -- that companies and industries with significant numbers of employees receiving government assistance were getting a taxpayer subsidy, that they aren't paying a living wage so the government has to pay the rest. The premise of this question is that employers are doing the country a favor by hiring someone on public assistance, but if these people are employed full time but are paid so little that they still require public assistance, who is doing who the favor?