Poverty Measures

The Welfare Indicators Act of 1994 requires the Department of Health and Human Services to prepare annual reports to Congress on indicators and predictors of welfare dependence.

This Issue Brief presents analysis of data on unemployment receipt from the Census Bureau's Annual Social and Economic Supplement of the Current Population Survey (CPS). This data analysis is supplemented by findings from two studies by Mathematica Policy Research on eligibility for unemployment insurance among former welfare recipients.

Content The Value of Hardship Measures Defining and Measuring Hardship Material Hardship Indexes Measuring Hardship Using the SIPP Unanswered Questions for Future Research  

The Welfare Indicators Act of 1994 requires the Department of Health and Human Services to prepare annual reports to Congress on indicators and predictors of welfare dependence.

This project addressed transition events associated with people entering and exiting poverty using data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) and the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID). The study found that poverty entries and exits changed over the past two decades, with an increase in both poverty entries and exits (i.e., "cycling") in the mid 1990s.

The Welfare Indicators Act of 1994 requires the Department of Health and Human Services to prepare annual reports to Congress on indicators and predictors of welfare dependence.

Prepared by: Julia Lane, Kelly S. Mikelson, Patrick T. Sharkey, Douglas Wissoker The Urban Institute 2100 M Street, NW Washington, DC 20037

The views expressed in this paper are those of the authorand do not represent the position of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. August 1999, revised June 2000

The Welfare Indicators Act of 1994 requires the Department of Health and Human Services to prepare annual reports to Congress on indicators and predictors of welfare dependence.