Welfare Participation

 
-Source: United States Census Bureau, http://www.census.gov/hhes/progpart/ dewb9293/pp92tabb.html

• In 1993, 36 million persons (14% of the population) participated in one of the following welfare programs: Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) , Supplemental Security Income, Medicaid, General Assistance Food Stamps, and Housing Assistance; these are considered major assistance programs. Households maintained by women with no spouse present were most likely to participate (43%).
  

• The number of African Americans receiving assistance in an average month (11.6 million) was only half the number of whites (22.9 million) in 1993. However, percentages of blacks (36%) and Hispanics (29%) who participated in such programs were higher than for whites (11%).
  

• During a two-year period (1991-1993), about half of the African Americans who received major assistance or Food Stamps did so for less than 13 months, and half for more than 13 months. Their median participation in AFDC was about 14 months, and in Medicaid it was 12 months. The median durations for whites were 7 months for major assistance, AFDC and Food Stamps, and 8 months for Medicaid. Hispanics participated in AFDC and medicaid programs for a median of 8 months, major assistance 9 months, and Food Stamps 10 months.
  

• Nearly a quarter (24%)of the nation's children participated in at least one of these programs in 1993. Only 10% of persons ages 18 to 64 and 12% of those ages 65 or older were participants.

-Sources: United States Census Bureau, http://www.census.gov/socdemo/www/table.txt and http://www.census.gov/socdemo/www/sb95-22/sb95-22.html

• In the summer of 1993, there were 36 million mothers of childbearing ages (15 to 44 years old) living in the United States. In an average month, 5.3 million of them (15%) received Food Stamps to help them purchase food for their 13.7 million children, and 10% received AFDC.
  

• The majority (55%) of mothers who received AFDC were white; about 39% were black and 21% were Hispanic. For Food Stamps, white, black, and Hispanic mothers each comprised about one third of recipients. Among black mothers of childbearing ages, about 33%, or 1.9 million, were Food Stamp recipients, and about 25% (1.5 million) were AFDC recipients. In contrast, 11%, or 3.2 million white mothers were food stamp recipients, and 7 percent or 2.1 million received AFDC. Twenty-five percent (or 1.1 million) of Hispanic mothers ages 15 to 44 received Food Stamps and 20% were on AFDC in 1993.
  

• Black, Hispanic and white women who received AFDC in 1993 were about 20 years old, on average, when they had their first child. Mothers on AFDC and Food Stamps had an average 2.6 children each. Black and white mothers receiving AFDC had, on average, the same number of children. Hispanic women receiving Food Stamps each had on average about 0.5 more children, and those receiving AFDC each had about 0.7 more children, than non-Hispanic women. About 30% of Hispanic mothers on Food Stamps and AFDC were born outside the United States.
  

• In 1993, about 2.1 million (or 39%) of the nation's 5.3 million mothers receiving Food Stamps had never been married and about 38% of these 5.3 million women were married. The never-married mothers had an average of 2.3 children each, compared to 2.8 children for those who were married. For over half of the married women (1.1 million), their husbands were present in the household, but the remaining 906,000 were either separated or had absent husbands. The remaining 23% of mothers receiving Food Stamps were either widowed or divorced.

References

Prepared by Cassandra Cantave and Roderick Harrison for the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. September 1999.