Tools & Research
Springfield WORKS and the Economic Pathways Coalition have partnered with the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta to develop five groundbreaking tools (tabs to the right) that help individuals, employers, and policymakers understand which in-demand career pathways will lead to self-sufficiency and mitigate the potential loss of public assistance (sometimes known as a benefits cliff) based on their income, residence, career goals, and family dynamics.
These tools:
- Help individuals understand how much money they will gain through paid employment and the financial tradeoffs from the loss of public assistance as they progress through their career pathways
- Identify benefits cliffs by analyzing how public benefits interact with career pathways in specific Massachusetts geographic areas
- Assist stakeholders in identifying barriers to career advancement and economic mobility and to support workers and job seekers in their movement toward economic self-sufficiency.
- Simulate policy and programmatic changes to eliminate benefits cliffs and support family financial stability (coming soon)
- Promote broad cross-sector use of the tool to help influence collective action to change systems related to public benefits for working families
- Engage the private sector to examine compensation structures, practices, and policies related to low- to moderate-income upskilling and advancement opportunities
These tools come from a partnership between the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta and the Western Massachusetts Economic Development Council and Springfield WORKS, in coordination with The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts, Baystate Health’s Ascend Family Prosperity Initiative MA Department of Transitional Assistance, MassHire Hampden County Workforce Board, and MA Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development. It is powered by the Atlanta Fed’s Career Ladder Identifier and Financial Forecaster (CLIFF).
The Dashboard: A.K.A. the Economic Pathways Massachusetts Income Cliff Calculator (EPICC)
Click here.
Best used for long-term career planning and advocacy.
This dashboard gives you information about which in-demand careers are likely to help you overcome a loss of public assistance and leave you in a better position financially. The dashboard also shows how long it will take to achieve self-sufficiency on a career path. This tool is specific to Massachusetts.
The Planner: A.K.A. Career Ladder Identifier and Financial Forecaster (CLIFF).
Click here.
The Planner (CLIFF) gives you information about income and public assistance along a career path. With CLIFF, you can compare the financial tradeoffs to different careers and visualize a path to financial stability
The Planner is designed for people planning their own careers. It includes advanced options that are not available through the other tools. These options enable the user to input specific information about their career and create a budget around the specific benefits cliffs that they are likely to encounter.
The Calculator: for immediate job-placement considerations.
Click here.
The Calculator is the fastest tool. It can be used for a quick analysis that does not require much personalization. It is based on manual wage inputs rather than occupational data, like the other tools use.
The Policy Rules Database (PRD)
Click here.
The Policy Rules Database was developed for policymakers and advocates, but is also very useful for client-facing applications like career counseling. It allows the user to quickly create customizable and detailed charts with valuable information for almost any application. The PRD is a powerful multi-use tool that is like the Swiss army knife in the cliff effects toolbox.
The Cliff Effects Tool: Employer Edition
Click here.
This is our latest tool! It enables employers to see how changes in wages will affect their employees. That way, they can intelligently plan their incentives to provide real benefits for their employees. This tool breaks down the knowledge barriers between employers and their employees by providing them insight into the realities of the cliff effect.
The Online Cliff Effects Training Program
Click here.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta developed the virtual training program to teach new users about the cliff effect and how to use the dashboard and the planner. Taking the course is the first step for anyone seeking to gain a deeper understanding of how to use the tools and anyone who wants to use the tools in a professional environment.
If you have questions, comments, or concerns about using the tools or the virtual training we encourage you to visit the FED office hours. The developers of the tools and the training program invite anyone to join them for their regularly-scheduled office hours.
Tuesdays 3:30-4:30 p.m. at the following link: CLICK HERE
Research
- Research from the Center for Social Policy at UMass Boston: Link.
- Dodson, Lisa, and Wendy Luttrell. “Families Facing Untenable Choices.” Sage Publications, Inc. on behalf of the American Sociological Association, Contexts, WINTER 2011, Vol. 10, No. 1, capturing community, pp. 38-42. Link.
- Explore the work done by the National Conference of State Legislatures that focuses on the whole family approach to careers and explores its intersection with cliff effects: link.
News Articles
- Chiarenza, Gabriella. “A hand up, not a handout, to cross the benefits cliff.” Fed Communities, fedcommunities.org, 2 DEC 2022. Link.
- Coy, Peter. “The ‘Benefits Cliff’ Discourages People From Making More Money.” The New York Times, nytimes.com, 10 NOV 2021. Link.
- Molina, Eneida. “Managing the ‘Cliff Effect’ (Viewpoint).” MassLive. MassLive.com. 17 July 2022. Link.
- Nargi, Lela. “What’s a “benefits cliff,” anyway?” The Counter, thecounter.org, 9 DEC 2021. Link.
- Kandilis, Anne, and Laura Sylvester. “Economic pathways coalition asks state to remove obstacles to economic opportunity.” MassLive, masslive.com, 24 OCT 2021. Link.
