This report, which is directed toward policymakers at the local, state, and national levels, is based on an extensive nationwide study of welfare-to-work initiatives. It identifies strategies to assist the private sector in employing welfare recipients. The document begins with an executive summary that discusses the following: the research study on which the document is based; opportunities and realities in the labor market; important programmatic and policy issues; and key lessons for working with the labor market. Chapter 1 profiles successful initiatives based on eight welfare-to-work strategies and initiatives: sector driven; employer directed; private staffing supported; community based; education and training focused, wage subsidized; public-private partnership supported; and government directed. The initiatives profiled are located in Arizona, Maryland, Wisconsin, Ohio, Florida, Oregon, Kansas, and Michigan. Chapter 2 summarizes the employer perspectives on welfare-to-work that emerged during focus groups held in Baltimore (Maryland), Detroit (Michigan), and the Orlando (Florida). Chapter 3, which is based on a multiple-state analysis of welfare recipient-employer interactions (a cross-state analysis and state-level analyses for Florida, Maryland, Missouri, and Oregon), explains exactly who hires welfare recipients. Appended are a glossary and a technical appendix describing the multiple-site analysis of welfare recipient-employer interactions presented in the report. (MN)