Thomas McLaughlin interviewed for WCSH6 series on Maine's welfare system

UNE Professor of Social Work Thomas Chalmers McLaughlin, Ph.D. was interviewed for the first of a two-part series by WCSH6 TV news on Gov. Paul LePage's call for reforming Maine's welfare system. The first part of the series that ran Feb. 24, 2011 focused on the issue of whether Maine's welfare system is a magnet for people from out of state who come here because of its reputation for generous benefits. McLaughlin, who has been compiling statistics on Maine's welfare system for six years, said that the facts do not support that reputation. His research finds that there are two to three times more people on welfare who move out of Maine than those who come to Maine and apply for welfare. People from out of state come to Maine looking for jobs, he said, and many are seasonal workers who travel back and forth between Maine and Florida. Watch the video.

McLaughlin is one of the authors of a new study of Maine's Temporary Assistance to Needy Families Program, known as TANF, which was released in January 2011.

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The University of New England is Maine’s largest independent university, with two beautiful coastal campuses in Maine, a one-of-a-kind study abroad campus in Tangier, Morocco, and an array of flexible, accredited online degrees. In an uncommonly welcoming and supportive community, we offer hands-on learning, empowering students to make a positive impact in a world full of challenges. The state’s top provider of health professionals, we are home to Maine’s only medical college, Maine’s only dental college, a variety of other interprofessionally aligned health care degree programs, as well as nationally recognized programs for marine science degrees, natural and social sciences degrees, arts and humanities degrees, and business degrees.