"As shown in figure 2.1, lone-parent employment increased by twelve percentage points—from 45 percent to 57 percent—from 1997 to 2008. Although not sufficient to meet the government’s target of 70 percent employment for this group, this is an impressive increase, particularly considering that most of the reforms in this period consisted of carrots rather than sticks. It is also impressive when considered relative to the United States, where single-mother employment during welfare reform rose by a comparable amount (about thirteen percentage points) from 1990 to 2000, but under a more punitive set of reforms."—p. 69, Britain's War on Poverty