State officials said yesterday that new federal welfare reform regulations will require a renewed focus on placing recipients into jobs or other approved activities.

And achieving that goal, they said, will increase the need for government-subsidized child care.

Providing enough child care to help low-income people "clearly will be a challenge for Pennsylvania," said Kathy Yorkievitz, a deputy secretary for the state Department of Public Welfare. While federal funding is available, she noted that Gov. Ed Rendell has sought additional funds for subsidized child care from the General Assembly. Those funds, however, were not included in the House budget.

Without more money, the state may need to increase child care subsidies to welfare recipients at the expense of other low-income people who need the help, said Cathleen Palm, coordinator of the Pennsylvania Welfare Coalition.

The regulations announced yesterday take effect immediately but may be modified after a 60-day review period. They specify activities that states can count to fulfill requirements for having welfare recipients working or in approved programs. In the past, states have had more flexibility to define those activities.

Dr. Wade Horn, an assistant secretary for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, said some states have even allowed recipients to meet requirements through bed rest or helping friends run errands.

The new regulations are aimed at helping states "take very seriously their obligation to engage every single person on their caseload," he said in a conference call with reporters.

In 2004, Pennsylvania brought up the rear among states in the percentage of welfare recipients who were working or in approved programs. Just 7 percent of the state's recipients were engaged in those activities, though Ms. Yorkievitz said the percentage had grown to about 26 percent by May.

In October, states are supposed to have 50 percent of recipients working or in approved training. But federal officials estimate that states may only need to meet a 45 percent goal after they receive credit for reducing their welfare caseloads.

Pennsylvania officials believe they can meet the requirement by October, Ms. Yorkievitz said. States that do not could face penalties.

After federal welfare reform legislation was approved a decade ago, caseloads fell so much that many states, including Pennsylvania, had little incentive to place recipients into jobs.

But earlier this year, legislation signed by President Bush changed the method for calculating the caseload credit, creating a need to further reduce caseloads or place more people into jobs or work-related activities.

The regulations announced yesterday outlined additional restrictions, including a requirement for states to better document recipients' activities. As in the past, welfare recipients counted toward the work requirement generally must be employed or in approved programs for at least 20 hours a week.

In general, the new rules require education and training activities to be linked to employment. Job search or job readiness assistance, including substance abuse and mental health services, would count toward work participation for a maximum of six weeks per year.

Many people with mental health problems need treatment for longer periods, said Rochelle Jackson, an organizer for the Welfare Justice Project, a local advocacy group.

While saying that some of the provisions are reasonable, Sharon Parrott, welfare policy director for the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, noted other challenges, including restrictions on counting recipients in programs for learning English as a second language.

State officials could simply reduce caseloads to comply with the new requirements, Ms. Parrott said, though she hoped that they would be more thoughtful about meeting their recipients' needs.

"It's a shame," she said of federal officials, "that they didn't find a way to provide flexibility for states to really serve people in an appropriate way."