The authors identify ways to facilitate work among current and recent welfare recipients with mental illness. Their analysis assesses the relationship between a particular mental illness, depression, and labor force involvement in a statewide sample of welfare recipients, identifies the factors that promote work for those with depression, and describes the positive and negative correlates of work among this group. This study is a building block in understanding how depression and work are related among current and recent welfare recipients and what factors impede or facilitate substantive involvement in society for those with depression. (Contains 6 footnotes and 6 tables.)