Content by Keyword: Caseload Trends and Dynamics

  1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1989 1994 2001 Percent Change 1989-94

  1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1989 1994 2001 PercentChange 1989-94

State Peak Caseload Oct ‘89 to Sept ’02 Date Peak Occurred Oct ’89 to Sept ’02 Sept ’96 Caseload Sept ’02 Caseload Percent Decline 1 Sept ’96 to Sept ’02 Percent Decline Peak to Sept ’02 1 Negative values denote percent increase.

State FY 1996 Grants for AFDC, EA & JOBS 1 FY 2001 State Family Assistance Grant 2 Increase from FY 1996 Level Percent Increase from FY 1996 Level

  1978 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1994 1996 1998 2001 Note: Benefits refers to total cash benefits paid (see Table TANF 3) but does not include emergency assistance payments. NA denotes data not available.

  May 1969 May 1975 March 1979 Fiscal year 1   1983 1988 1992 1996 1998 2000 2001

  Monthly Benefit per Recipient Average Number of Persons per Family Monthly Benefit per Family (not reduced by Child Support) Weighted Average 1 Maximum Benefit (per 3-person Family) Fiscal Year Current Dollars 2001 Dollars

  Cash & Work-Based Assistance Work Activities Child Care Trans- portation Adminis- tration Systems Transitional Services Other Expenditures Total Expenditures

Fiscal Year (1) Single Parent 1 (2) Unemployed Parent (3) Child Support Collections 2 (4) Net Benefits 3 (1) + (2) minus (3) (5) Net Benefits ( 1996 dollars) 4 > 1 Includes payments to two-parent families where one adult is incapacitated.

Calendar Year 1 Total Recipients in the States & DC (in thousands) Child Recipients in the States & DC (in thousands) Recipients as a Percent of Total Population 2 Recipients as a Percent of Poverty Population 3 Recipients as a Percentof Pretransfer Poverty Population 4 Child Recipients as a Percent of Total Child Po

  Average Monthly Number(In thousands) Children asAverage 1 Fiscal Year Total Families 1 Total Recipients Unemployed Parent Families Unemployed Parent Recipients Total Children a Percent of Total Recipients Number of Children per Family

Note: See Table TANF 6 for underlying data. Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Family Assistance, Quarterly Public Assistance Statistics, 1992 & 1993 plus unpublished data and Fifth TANF Annual Report to Congress, 2003.

AFDC/TANF State-by-State Trends (Tables TANF 8-14). There is a great deal of state-to-state variation in the trends discussed above. For example, as shown in Table TANF 10, while every state has experienced a caseload decline since 1993, the percentage change between the state’s caseload peak and September 2002 ranges from 94 percent (Wyoming) t

AFDC/TANF Recipient Characteristics (Table TANF 7). With the dramatic declines in the welfare rolls since the implementation of TANF, there has been a great deal of speculation regarding how the composition of the caseload has changed. Two striking trends are the increases in the proportion of child-only cases and in employment among adult recip

AFDC/TANF Expenditures (Tables TANF 3-6 and Figure TANF 2). Tables TANF 3, 4 and 5 show trends in expenditures on AFDC and TANF. Table TANF 3 tracks both programs, breaking out the costs of benefits and administrative expenses. It also shows the division between federal and state spending. Table TANF 4 breaks out the benefits paid under the sing

AFDC/TANF Caseload Trends (Figure TANF 1, Tables TANF 1-2). Welfare caseloads have declined dramatically during the past several years. In fiscal year 2001, the average monthly number of TANF recipients was 5.4 million persons, 57 percent lower than the average monthly AFDC caseload in fiscal year 1996 and the smallest number of people on welfar

The following tables and figures present data on caseloads, expenditures, and recipient characteristics of the AFDC and TANF programs. Trends in national caseloads and expenditures are shown in Figure TANF 1 and the first set of tables (Tables TANF 1-6). These are followed by information on characteristics of AFDC/TANF families (Table TANF 7) and

States had the option of beginning their TANF programs as soon as PRWORA was enacted in August 1996, and a few states began TANF programs as early as September 1996. All states were required to implement TANF by July 1, 1997. Because states implemented TANF at different times, the FY 1997 data reflect a combination of the AFDC and TANF programs.

Legislative authority for the TANF block grant program expired September 2002. In February 2002, President Bush proposed a plan, Working Toward Independence, to strengthen welfare reform, in order to help families remaining on welfare and other low-income families move toward self-sufficiency. In May 2002, the House of Representatives passed HR 47