EMBARGOED UNTIL: 10 A.M. EDT, AUGUST 22, 1996 Please note our new policy NO BROADCAST OR PRINT BEFORE 10 A.M. EDT Public Information Office CB96-138 301-457-3030/301-457-3670 (fax) **REVISED** 301-457-4067 (TDD) e-mail: pio@census.gov Jan Tin 301-763-8376 NEARLY ONE IN FOUR CHILDREN RECEIVE GOVERNMENT ASSISTANCE, CENSUS BUREAU REPORTS EMBARGOED UNTIL: AUGUST 22, 1996 (THURSDAY) - Nearly one-quarter of the nation's children under age 18 received some type of means-tested government assistance in an average month during 1993, compared with 10 percent of persons aged 18 to 64 and 12 percent of persons 65 and over. In addition, approximately one in seven children received means-tested assistance in every month of the 1992-93 period. This is according to a report released today by the Commerce Departmentūs Census Bureau entitled Dynamics of Economic Well-Being: Program Participation, 1992-1993, Who Gets Assistance?, P70-58. The report is based on the Census Bureau's Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), a continuing monthly survey of approximately 20,000 households across the country that collects information on people's economic well-being and participation in major government assistance programs. Examples of means-tested programs include Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), General Assistance, food stamps, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Medicaid, and housing assistance. A means test looks at one's financial state to determine eligibility for assistance. A substantial proportion of recipients in means-tested programs participated in major government programs only on a short-term basis. Long-term recipients were likely to be children or the elderly, says Jan Tin, the report's author. Other findings from the report include: - The median length of time participants received benefits from means-tested programs was 7.7 months during the 1992-93 period, compared to 7.9 month in the 1990-92 period. - Approximately 11 percent of Whites and 36 percent of African Americans participated in major means-tested assistance programs in an average month in 1993. The proportion of Hispanics receiving this assistance was 29 percent. - Eight percent of persons in married-couple families--compared with 43 percent in families where women maintained households--participated in major means-tested programs in an average month in 1993. This information was collected from a sample survey and is therefore subject to sampling variability as well as reporting and coverage errors.
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