Indicators of Welfare Dependence:  Annual Report to Congress, 2005

Chapter II.
Indicators of Dependence

[ Main page of Report | Contents of Report ]

Contents

• Indicator 1.  Degree of Dependence
• Indicator 2.  Receipt of Means-Tested Assistance and Labor Force Attachment
• Indicator 3.  Rates of Receipt of Means-Tested Assistance
• Indicator 4.  Rates of Participation in Means-Tested Assistance Programs
• Indicator 5.  Multiple Program Receipt
• Indicator 6.  Dependence Transitions
• Indicator 7.  Dependence Spell Duration
• Indicator 8.  Program Spell Duration
• Indicator 9.  Long-Term Receipt
• Indicator 10.  Events Associated with the Beginning and Ending of Program Spells

Following the format of the previous annual reports to Congress, Chapter II presents summary data related to indicators of dependence. These indicators differ from other welfare statistics because of their emphasis on welfare dependence, rather than simple welfare receipt. As discussed in Chapter I, the Advisory Board on Welfare Indicators suggested measuring dependence as the proportion of families with more than 50 percent of their total income in a one-year period coming from cash assistance through the AFDC (now TANF) program, food stamps and SSI benefits. Furthermore, this welfare income was not to be associated with work activities.

The indicators in Chapter II were selected to provide information about the range and depth of dependence as defined by the Advisory Board. Existing data from administrative records and national surveys, however, do not generally distinguish welfare benefits received in conjunction with work from benefits received without work. Thus, it was not possible to construct one single indicator of dependence; that is, one indicator that measures both percentage of income from means-tested assistance and presence of work activities.

This chapter focuses on recipients of three major means-tested cash and nutritional assistance programs: cash assistance through the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) and the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs, benefits under the Food Stamp Program, and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits for elderly and disabled recipients. For some indicators, summary data and characteristics are provided for all recipients, not just those defined as welfare-dependent. While a number of indicators focus on the percentage of recipients’ income from means-tested assistance, other indicators focus on presence of work activities at the same time as welfare receipt.

Here is a brief summary of each of the ten indicators:

Indicator 1: Degree of Dependence.  This indicator focuses most closely on those individuals who meet the Advisory Board’s proposed definition of “dependence.” In addition to examining individuals with more than 50 percent of their annual family income from AFDC/TANF cash assistance, food stamps and/or SSI benefits, it shows various levels of dependence by examining those with more than 0 percent, 25 percent, and 75 percent of their income from these sources (Indicators 1a and 1b). This indicator also shows the average percentage of income from means-tested assistance and earnings received by families with various levels of income relative to the poverty level (Indicators1c and 1d).

Indicator 2:  Receipt of Means-Tested Assistance and Labor Force Attachment.  This indicator looks further at the relationship between receipt of means-tested assistance and participation in the labor force. This is an important issue because of the significant number of low-income individuals that use a combination of means-tested assistance and earnings from the labor force.

Indicator 3:  Rates of Receipt of Means-Tested Assistance.  This indicator paints yet another picture of dependence by measuring recipiency rates, that is, the percentage of the population that receives AFDC/TANF, food stamps, or SSI in an average month. Program administrative data make these figures readily available over time, allowing a better sense of historical trends than is available from the more specialized indicators of dependence.

Indicator 4:  Rates of Participation in Means-Tested Assistance Programs.  While means-tested public assistance programs are open to all that meet their requirements, not all eligible households participate in the programs. This indicator uses administrative data and microsimulation models to reflect “take-up rates” – the number of families that actually participate in the programs as a percentage of those who are legally eligible.

Indicator 5:  Multiple Program Receipt.  Depending on their circumstances, individuals may choose a variety of different means-tested assistance “packages.” This indicator looks at the percentage of individuals receiving AFDC/TANF, food stamps, and SSI in a month, examining how many rely on just one of these programs, and how many rely on a combination of two programs.

Indicator 6:  Dependence Transitions.  This indicator uses data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) to look at whether individuals dependent on welfare in one year make the transition out of dependence in the following year.

Indicator 7:  Dependence Spell Duration.  Like Indicator 6, this indicator is concerned with dynamics of welfare receipt and welfare dependence. It shows the proportion of individuals with short, medium, and long spells, or episodes, of AFDC or TANF receipt. The focus is on individuals in families with no labor force participants who enter the AFDC/TANF program.

Indicator 8:  Program Spell Duration.  One critical aspect of dependence is how long individuals receive means-tested assistance. Like Indicator 7, this indicator provides information on short, medium, and long spells of welfare receipt. It differs from Indicator 7 in looking at all recipients, regardless of attachment to the labor force, and in analyzing recipients of each of the three major means-tested programs — AFDC/TANF, the Food Stamp Program, and SSI.

Indicator 9:  Long-Term Receipt.  Many individuals who leave welfare programs cycle back on after an absence of several months. Thus it is important to look beyond individual program spells, measured in Indicator 8, to examine the cumulative amount of time individuals receive assistance over a period of several years.

Indicator 10:  Events Associated with the Beginning and Ending of Program Spells.  To gain a better understanding of welfare dynamics, it is important to go beyond measures of spell duration and examine information regarding the major events in people’s lives that are correlated with the beginnings or endings of program spells. This measure focuses on receipt of TANF.

Indicator 1. Degree of Dependence

Figure IND 1a.
Percentage of Total Income from Means-Tested Assistance Programs: 2002

Source: Unpublished tabulations from the Current Population Survey, Annual Social and Economic Supplement, 2003, analyzed using the TRIM3 microsimulation model.

• Only 3.2 percent of the total population in 2002 received more than half of their total family income from TANF, food stamps and SSI. As shown in Table IND 1b , the percentage of families dependent on public assistance has dropped dramatically since 1993, with most of the decline occurring between 1996 and 2000. Since 2000, there has been a small increase in dependency, from 3.0 to 3.2 percent.
• A little over 13 percent of the overall population received at least one dollar in means-tested assistance in 2002. However, for 59 percent of these individuals (8 percent of the total population), such assistance represented 25 percent or less of annual family income. The vast majority (87 percent) of the population received no means-tested assistance in 2002.
• As shown in Table IND 1a, individuals living in female-headed families were much more likely to be dependent on assistance from means-tested programs than individuals in married-couple or male-headed families (11.7 percent compared to 1.0 and 3.8 percent respectively).
• In 2002, about one in four individuals receiving some public assistance reported that TANF, food stamps, and SSI accounted for more than half of their total family income. This number reflected a decline in dependence since 1996, when nearly one in three individuals receiving public assistance were dependent on it.

Figure IND 1b.
Percentage of Total Annual Income from Various Sources, by Poverty Status: 2002

Source: Unpublished tabulations from the Current Population Survey, Annual Social and Economic Supplement, 2003, analyzed using the TRIM3 microsimulation model.

• Those in families with income below the poverty level received almost half (48 percent) of their total family income from earnings and 29 percent of their total family income from means-tested assistance programs (TANF, SSI, and food stamps) in 2002. In contrast, those with family income over 200 percent of the poverty level received the majority (88 percent) of their income from earnings and less than one percent of their income from means-tested assistance (a percentage so small that it is not visible in Figure IND 1b).
• The percentage of family income received from earnings is inversely proportional to overall family income relative to the poverty line. For example, the percentage of income received from earnings for those living in deep poverty (below 50 percent of poverty) was only 29 percent, compared to 48 percent for all poor individuals in 2002.
• On average, children were more likely than the elderly to live in families receiving a higher percentage of their income from means-tested assistance programs, as shown by Table IND 1c. The elderly received more income from other income sources, such as Social Security benefits and private pensions.
• The percentage of income received from earnings for families with incomes below the poverty level has increased over time, as shown in Table IND 1d. In 1995, poor families received 40 percent of their income from earnings; this percentage rose to 48 percent in 1998 and has remained fairly stable since. Over the same time period, there was a decline in the percentage of income from means-tested programs among poor families from 41 percent in 1995 to 29 percent in 2002.

Indicator 2. Receipt of Means-Tested Assistance and Labor Force Attachment

Figure IND 2.
Percentage of Recipients in Families with Labor Force Participants in that Month

Source: Unpublished tabulations from the Current Population Survey, Annual Social and Economic Supplement, 2003, analyzed using the TRIM3 microsimulation model.

• About one-third of TANF and food stamp recipients lived in families with at least one full-time worker in 2002, with an additional one fourth living in families with a labor force participant who was not full time.Thus, 60 percent of TANF recipients and 58 percent of food stamp recipients were in families with at least one person in the labor force. In contrast, SSI recipients were more likely to live in families with no labor force participant.
• As shown in Table IND 2a, young children (under age six) in households receiving TANF and SSI were more likely to live with at least one full-time worker than were older children (ages 11-15) in such recipient households. There is less variation in labor force participation by age of children among households receiving food stamps.
• The percentage of AFDC/TANF recipients living in families with at least one full-time worker increased from 19 percent in 1993 to 35 percent in 1999, as shown in Table IND 2b. Since 1999, this percentage has remained around 34 to 35 percent. Lower family employment rates are reported in the TANF administrative data, which is limited to employment of family members in the TANF assistance unit and employment reported to the welfare agency (see Table TANF 7 in Appendix A).

Indicator 3. Rates of Receipt of Means-Tested Assistance

Figure IND 3a.
Percentage of the Total Population Receiving AFDC/TANF, by Age: 1970-2003

Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Family Assistance, and U.S. Bureau of the Census (available online at http://www.census.gov).

• Although the survey data needed to examine overall welfare receipt and dependency are not yet available past 2002, administrative data for recipiency measures of AFDC/TANF, food stamps, and SSI are available through 2003, as shown in Figures IND 3a, IND 3b, and IND 3c. Additional administrative data are shown in Appendix A.
• Just under 2 percent of the total population received TANF in 2003. The rate of AFDC/TANF receipt has dropped significantly since 1993, when it was at a 25-year high of over 5 percent, as shown in Table IND 3a. The 2003 rate of receipt was the lowest since the early 1960s.
• AFDC/TANF recipiency rates have been much higher over time for children than for adults, with the child recipiency rates also showing more pronounced changes over time. Between 1993 and 2003, AFDC/TANF receipt among children decreased by more than half (from 14 to well under 6 percent), the most rapid decline in a generation.

Figure IND 3b.
Percentage of the Total Population Receiving Food Stamps, by Age: 1975-2003

Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service, Office of Analysis, Nutrition, and Evaluation, Characteristics of Food Stamp Households, Fiscal Year 2003, and earlier reports, and U.S. Bureau of the Census (available online at http://www.census.gov).

• The food stamp recipiency rate increased to 7.3 percent in 2003, up from a low of 6.1 percent in 2000 and 2001 — the lowest rate since the Food Stamp program became available nationwide. The 2003 recipiency rate is still significantly below the peak of 10.4 percent experienced in 1993 and 1994.
• As with AFDC/TANF, food stamp recipiency rates have been much higher over time for children than for adults. Between 1980 and 2003, the percentage of all children who received food stamps was between two and one-half to three times that for all adults ages 18 to 59.
• Similar trends in food stamp recipiency  — largely reflecting changes in the rate of unemployment and programmatic changes — existed across all age groups over time, as shown in Table IND 3b. The percentages of individuals receiving food stamps declined from 1984 through 1988, rose in the early 1990s until reaching a peak in 1994, declined sharply through 2000 and since then have risen somewhat in 2002 and 2003.

Figure IND 3c.
Percentage of the Total Population Receiving SSI, by Age: 1975-2003

Source: Social Security Administration, Office of Research, Evaluation, and Statistics, Social Security Bulletin, Annual Statistical Supplement, 2004 (available online at http://www.ssa.gov/statistics) and U.S. Bureau of the Census (available online at http://www.census.gov).

• Unlike the recipiency rates for AFDC/TANF and food stamps, which have been influenced by outside factors such as the economy and welfare reform, overall recipiency rates for SSI show less variation over time. After trending downward slightly from 1975 to the early 1980s, the proportion of the total population that receives SSI has risen from 1.7 percent in 1985 to 2.5 percent in 1996 and subsequently declined slightly to 2.4 percent.As shown in Table IND 3c, the total number of recipients has grown by 67 percent over the same period, from 4.1 million in 1985 to 6.9 million people in 2003.
• Elderly adults (ages 65 and older) have much higher recipiency rates than any other age group. The gap has narrowed, however, as the percentage of adults aged 65 and older receiving SSI has been cut nearly in half, declining from 10.9 percent in 1975 to 5.5 percent in 2003.
• The proportion of children receiving SSI increased gradually between 1975 and 1990, and grew more rapidly in the early and mid-1990s, reaching a high of 1.4 percent in 1996. The rate has since fallen slightly, with 1.3 percent of children receiving SSI in 2003.

Indicator 4. Rates of Participation in Means-Tested Assistance Programs

Figure IND 4.
Participation Rates in the AFDC/TANF, Food Stamp and SSI Programs
Selected Years

Source: AFDC and SSI participation rates are tabulated using the TRIM3 microsimulation model, while food stamp participation rates are from a Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. model. See Tables IND 4a, IND 4b, and IND 4c for details.

• Whereas Indicator 3 examined participants as a percentage of the total population (recipiency rates), this indicator examines participating families or households as a percentage of the estimated eligible population (participation rates, also known as "take-up" rates).
• Only 48 percent of the families estimated as eligible for TANF cash assistance actually enrolled and received benefits in an average month in 2002.This is significantly lower than AFDC participation rates, which ranged from 77 percent to 86 percent between 1981 and 1996. See Table IND 4a for further information.
• After rising steadily over the past several years, the SSI participation rate dropped in 2001, with very little change between 2001 and 2002. At 70 percent it still is much higher than recent TANF and Food Stamp participation rates. See Table IND 4c for details by age and disability status.
• Between 2001 and 2002, there was essentially no change in the number of eligible families for the TANF program.
• After falling every year from 1994 to 2001, both caseloads and participation rates remained fairly steady between 2001 and 2002.
• Participating families includes families receiving cash assistance only. Families who receive services and benefits other than cash assistance are not included in the participation rate.
• Between fiscal years 1999 and 2002 there was a 14 percent increase in households eligible for the Food Stamp Program (from 14.5 to 16.6 million households). Caseloads grew at a lower rate (6 percent increase) over the same period. The net effect was a decrease in the estimated participation rate, from 52 to 48 percent.
• Over the longer run, there was a 32 percent drop in food stamp caseloads, from a peak of nearly 11 million households in 1994 to just over 7 million in 1999. This decline in caseloads occurred during a time when both the eligible population and the program participation rates were generally decreasing. These longer-term decreases are considerably larger than the increases between 1999 and 2002.

• After a drop in the SSI participation rate among adult units between 2000 and 2001, the rate held fairly constant at about 70 percent between 2001 and 2002.
• The decline in the participation rates among aged one-person units continued for a second year, bringing the level down to 62 percent, a cumulative decline since 2000 of 9 percentage points.
• The rates for both disabled one-person units and married-couple units that are either aged or disabled edged upwards in 2002 after declines in the previous year.
• In 2002, as in past years, disabled adults in one-person units had a higher participation rate (78 percent) than both aged adults in one-person units (62 percent) and adults in married-couple units (48 percent).

Indicator 5. Multiple Program Receipt

Figure IND 5.
Percentage of Population Receiving Assistance from Multiple Programs (TANF, Food Stamps, SSI), among Those Receiving Assistance: 2002

Source: Unpublished tabulations from the Current Population Survey, Annual Social and Economic Supplement, 2003, analyzed using the TRIM3 microsimulation model.

• Of the almost 9 percent of the population in families receiving TANF, food stamps, or SSI benefits in an average month in 2002, about two-thirds (72 percent) received assistance from only one program. Most of these families received food stamps or SSI benefits only. However, other common patterns include food stamp and TANF receipt (16 percent) and food stamp and SSI receipt (12 percent).
• Children are more likely than other age groups to live in families receiving TANF and/or food stamps. For example, 17 percent of children under six lived in families receiving any public assistance in an average month in 2002, and 5 percent of children under six lived in families receiving both TANF and food stamps, as shown in Table IND 5a.
• The percentage of individuals receiving assistance from at least one program among AFDC/TANF, food stamps, and SSI in an average month decreased during the mid- and late 1990s (from 13 percent in 1994 to 8 percent in 2000). It increased to 8.5 percent in 2002, largely due to an increase in families receiving food stamps only, as shown in Table IND 5b.

Indicator 6. Dependence Transitions

Figure IND 6.
Dependency Status in 2003 of Persons Who Received More than 50 Percent of Income from Means-Tested Assistance in 2002, by Race/Ethnicity

Source: Unpublished tabulations from the Survey of Income and Program Participation, 2001 panel.

• Recipients of means-tested assistance were more likely to move out of dependency in the early 2000s than in the early 1990s. About three-tenths (29 percent) of recipients who received more than 50 percent of their total income from means-tested assistance programs in 2002 transitioned out of this dependency status in 2003. The comparable transition rate was only 20 percent between 1993 and 1994, as shown in Table IND 6b.
• Of the recipients who received more than 50 percent of their total income from AFDC/TANF, food stamps, and/or SSI in 2002, Hispanics were less likely to be dependent in 2003 than non-Hispanic whites and non-Hispanic blacks.
• As shown in Table IND 6a, men between the ages of 16 and 64 who received more than half of their total income from means-tested assistance programs in 2002 remained dependent in 2003 in higher percentages than women.

Indicator 7. Dependence Spell Duration

Figure IND 7.
Percentage of AFDC/TANF Spells of Individuals in Families with No Labor Force Participants and Entering Programs during the 1993 and 2001 SIPP Panels, by Length of Spell

Source:  Unpublished tabulations from the Survey of Income and Program Participation, 2001 panel.

• In the early 2000s, 45 percent of TANF spells for individuals in families with no one in the labor force ended within four months and over two-thirds (71 percent) ended within a year. These spells are measured for individuals living in families with no labor force participants at the start of 2001 who entered TANF between 2001 and 2003.
• Spells were much longer for families entering AFDC between 1993 and 1995, as shown in Figure IND 7 and Table IND 7b. Half (50 percent) of AFDC/TANF spells for individuals in families where no one participated in the labor force lasted more than 20 months in the 1993 SIPP panel, compared with only 15 percent of that length in the 2001 SIPP panel.
• As shown in Table IND 7a, the percentage of TANF spells ending in four months or less were larger for non-Hispanic whites (57 percent) than for non-Hispanic blacks (47 percent) and Hispanics (47 percent).
• Spells shown in Indicator 7 are limited to spells of recipients in families without any labor force participation at the start of each panel. Spell lengths, on average, are slightly shorter in Indicator 8, which shows spells for all recipients, including those in families with labor force participants. For example, whereas 45 percent of spells between 2001 and 2003 shown in Figure IND 7 end in four months or less, 50 percent of all TANF spells during the same time period end in four months or less, as shown in Figure IND 8.

Indicator 8. Program Spell Duration

Figure IND 8.
Percentage of TANF, Food Stamp and SSI Spells for Individuals Entering Programs during the 2001 SIPP Panel, by Length of Spell

Source: Unpublished tabulations from the Survey of Income and Program Participation, 2001 panel.

• Between the years 2001 and 2003, short spells lasting 4 months or less accounted for about 50 percent of TANF spells, 36 percent of food stamp spells, and 28 percent of SSI spells.
• Approximately three-fourths of all TANF spells (73 percent) and three-fifths of food stamp spells (60 percent) lasted one year or less. In contrast, only 49 percent of SSI spells ended within one year.
• As shown in Table IND 8a, for TANF spells, a smaller percentage of long spells (lasting more than 20 months) occurred among non-Hispanic whites compared to non-Hispanic blacks and Hispanics. In contrast, these groups did not differ greatly in the percentage of long spells for food stamps.
• Spells of welfare receipt were shorter in the early 2000s than in the early 1990s, as shown in Table IND 8b. For example, only 17 percent of TANF spells for individuals entering TANF between 2001 and 2003 lasted 20 months or longer, compared with 34 percent of AFDC spells beginning between 1992 and 1994.
• Length of TANF receipt varies across states, as shown in Appendix Table TANF 17, which shows an alternative measure of length of TANF receipt, using state administrative data.

Indicator 9. Long-Term Receipt

Figure IND 9.
Percentage of AFDC/TANF Recipients, by Years of Receipt between

Source: Unpublished tabulations from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, public release data files, 1992-2001.

• Among all persons receiving AFDC/TANF at some point in the ten-year period ending in 2000, about half (51 percent) received assistance in only one or two of these years. Less than one third (31 percent) received AFDC/TANF in three to five years, and less than one fifth (19 percent) received AFDC/TANF during more than five of the ten years.
• A larger percentage of child recipients experienced long-term receipt (some receipt in at least six of the ten years) and a smaller percentage experienced short-term receipt (receipt in only one or two years) in all three time periods relative to the percentages for all recipients, as shown in Table IND 9.
• Longer-term welfare receipt was much less common during the 1990s compared to earlier decades. Less than 4 percent of those with some AFDC/TANF assistance between 1991 and 2000 received at least one assistance payment in nine or ten years of the period, compared to 12 percent and 13 percent of AFDC recipients in the earlier two time periods.
• In the two ten-year time periods between 1971-1990, there was a large percentage differencein short-term AFDC receipt between all black and non-black recipients. In the ten-year period ending in 2000, this percentage difference was much smaller, with 49 percent of blacks and 53 percent of non-blacks receiving AFDC/TANF in only one or two years.

Indicator 10. Events Associated with the Beginning and Eending of Program Spells

Figure IND 10a.
Trigger Events Associated with Single Mother TANF Entries during 2001 SIPP Panel

Source: Unpublished tabulations from the Survey of Income and Program Participation, 2001 panel.

• A decrease in earnings was the most common event associated with welfare entries.For spells beginning between 2001 and 2003, half (50 percent) were accompanied by a decrease in the recipient’s own monthly earnings of $50 or more, and an additional 20 percent were accompanied by decreases in the earnings of other household members.
• Changes in household composition were also associated with the onset of welfare spells.The addition of a new child was associated with one-fifth (20 percent), divorce or separation was associated with 4 percent, and a decrease in the number of household adults (not through divorce or separation) was associated with 15 percent of welfare spell starts during the 2001 to 2003 period.
• The onset of a work limitation was associated with about one in ten welfare spell starts.This percentage has gone up over time from 7 percent for spells starting between 1993 and 1995 to 12 percent for spells starting between 2001 and 2003 (see Table IND 10a).

• Spells of welfare receipt and associated trigger events are measured using monthly data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP). In the 2003 Indicators of Welfare Dependence volume (and earlier volumes), events associated with the beginning and ending of program spells were measured using annual data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID). Thus, the estimates shown above are not comparable to estimates reported in previous volumes.
• Note that events sum to more than 100 percent because the same household could experience more than one event. For example, if a single mother separated from an adult with earnings and subsequently entered welfare, her welfare entry would be coded as associated with both a decrease in adults in the household and a decrease in household earnings. In other words, events are generally not defined to be mutually exclusive. (However, see two exceptions in note above.)

Figure IND 10b.
Trigger Events Associated with Single Mother TANF Exits during 2001 SIPP Panel

Source: Unpublished tabulations from the Survey of Income and Program Participation, 2001 panel.

• Welfare exits were most often associated with increases in recipient earnings. Close to one-half (46 percent) of spells ending between 2001 and 2003 were associated with either an increase in the recipient’s own earnings (34 percent) or an increase in household earnings without an increase in recipients’ own earnings (12 percent).
• The percentage of all spell exits associated with an increase in recipient earnings has decreased over time (see Table IND 10b). Some of this decline may reflect the fact that a larger share of the caseload is combining welfare and work, and so some recipients with welfare exits in more recent years may have experienced increases in earnings before the 5- to 8-month time period used to observe "associated events in Table 10b.
• Smaller shares of welfare exits were associated with household composition changes (changes in marital status, presence of children and number of adults) compared with welfare entries (see Figure IND 10a).
• Nearly Two-fifths (37 percent) of welfare spells ending between 2001 and 2003 were not associated with any of the events listed above within the period observed. The percentage has risen over time (see Table IND 10b).

• Spells of welfare receipt and associated trigger events are measured using monthly data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP). In the 2003 Indicators of Welfare Dependence volume (and earlier volumes), events associated with the beginning and ending of program spells were measured using annual data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID). Thus, the estimates shown above are not comparable to estimates reported in previous volumes.
• Note that events sum to more than 100 percent because the same household could experience more than one event. For example, if a single mother got a job, left welfare, and reported she no longer had a disability limiting her work status, her welfare exit would be coded as being associated with both an increase in earnings and an ending of a work limitation. In other words, events are generally not defined to be mutually exclusive. (However, see two exceptions in note above.)

Where to?

Top of Page | Contents

Main Page of Report | Contents of Report

Home Pages:
Human Services Policy (HSP)
Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation ASPE)
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)