FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Wednesday, Dec. 30, 1998
Contact: Michael Kharfen, (202) 401-9215
HHS REPORTS NEARLY ALL STATES MET THE FIRST ROUND OF
WELFARE TO WORK PARTICIPATION RATES
New Statistics Report More Parents on Welfare Working
HHS Secretary Donna E. Shalala announced today that 36 states and the District
of Columbia met the first round of welfare-to-work participation rates for
all families as required by the new welfare reform law. States also reported
that more parents were working and earning more than previously recorded.
Nearly all of the 37 states and D.C. subject to participation rate requirements
for the period of July to September 1997 met the minimum requirement for
all parents on welfare to be working or engaged in welfare-to-work activities.
The information from one state remains incomplete and will be verified shortly.
Nearly half the 33 states and D.C. subject to the higher participation requirement
for two-parent families met the rate. Several states had no two-parent families
in their welfare programs. The July to September 1997 period is the first
time that states were required to meet a 25 percent work participation rate
for all families and a 75 percent rate for two-parent families. As 1997
was a transition year for the new welfare program, states that started their
programs after April 1997 were not required to report work rates. All the
states did receive a credit for prior year reductions in their caseloads
toward meeting the participation rate. Also, several states had adjustments
to their rates because they continued waivers approved under the Clinton
Administration.
The Administration also released new statistics derived from the Census
Bureau that show 1.5 million parents on welfare were working in March 1998
who had received welfare in 1997. Also, the data reveals a dramatic shift
towards employment among welfare recipients. The percentage of single women
on welfare who worked in the same year increased by 50 percent from 40 percent
in 1992 to 60 percent in 1997.
"This early report is very promising and shows that we are making progress
in moving parents on welfare into jobs or giving them the work skills they
need to get a job," said Secretary Shalala. "We are committed to supporting
states in their efforts to help families achieve self-sufficiency and break
the cycle of welfare dependency."
According to the new state data, the number of parents on welfare who were
working jumped substantially since the last reporting period of October
1996 to June 1997. The states reported that more than 18 percent of adults
on welfare were employed compared to a 14 percent employment rate for the
previous period. Earned income for families on welfare also increased by
17 percent, with the monthly average of earned income increasing from just
over $500 to nearly $600. The proportion of adults on welfare in direct
work-related activities -- including employment, work experience and community
service -- tripled over previous years. In 1997, nearly 22 percent of adults
were working or in work experience compared to slightly over 7 percent in
1992.
"The employment and earnings news from this first report under TANF is
very exciting," said Olivia A. Golden, HHS assistant secretary for children
and families. "We’re seeing early progress by states in developing welfare-to-work
programs that deliver. We continue to encourage states to build on these
initial efforts with investments to help parents get higher paying jobs
and with supports like child care to help families keep those jobs," Golden
added.
Under the welfare law, states that fail to meet the minimum participation
rates for all families are subject to a penalty of 5 percent of their annual
federal block grant. Because fiscal year 1997 was a transition year for
the TANF program, states will be subject to the penalty for one-quarter
or less of their block grant amount. However, states can take corrective
action or appeal the penalty for a reasonable cause exception. Most of the
states that are subject to a penalty failed to meet the two-parent participation
rate. In that case, the penalty amount will be based on the percentage of
two-parent families in the state’s caseload.
The states that failed to meet the two-parent participation rates are Alabama,
Arizona, California, District of Columbia, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Michigan,
Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma,
Texas, Virginia, and Washington. Information for West Virginia is incomplete.
The report contains other statistics on the characteristics of families
on welfare, but there were no major changes from the previous reporting
period of October 1996 to June 1997. The average family size of three—one
adult and two children—remained the same. Other characteristics of individuals
that remained largely unchanged include distributions by race and ethnicity,
age, marital status, and percentage of teen parents.
Some statistics, including education level, citizenship, number of closed
cases, and receipt of other benefits, are incomplete, because individual
state reports were not available or were inconsistent with prior reporting
periods. The department has worked vigorously with states to address reporting
problems and expects that subsequent reports will be more accurate, routine
and timely.
The participation rate tables is available on
the World Wide Web athttp://www.acf.dhhs.gov/news/press/1998/prrate97.htm.
The full report is available at http://www.acf.dhhs.gov/programs/opre/particip/index.htm.
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Note: All HHS press releases, fact sheets and other press materials are
available at http://www.hhs.gov/news.
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