Program Participation
Program Participation Main 1996-99 Report - PDF 1993-95 Report - PDF 1993-94 Report

Program Participation, 1991 to 1993

HIGHLIGHTS

(The numbers in parentheses denote the 90-percent confidence intervals.)

• About 20.2 (+-1.3) million persons participated in a major assistance program on a long-term basis; i.e., all 24 months of 1991 and 1992, constituting 8.3 (+-0.5) percent of the population.


• The median length of time of receiving benefits from major means-tested assistance programs was 7.9 months during the 1991- to-1993 period, the same as during the 1990-to-1992 period.


• Total median monthly family benefits from Aid to Families With Dependent Children (AFDC), General Assistance, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), and food stamps were about $436 (+-5.8) in 1992.


• About 5.8 (+-0.5) percent of White persons participated long-term in major assistance programs, compared to 18.9 (+-2.5) percent of persons of Hispanic origin (who may be of any race) and 24.2 (+-1.4) percent of Black persons. Most long-term participants in means-tested assistance programs were White, 57.9 (+-3.2) percent, versus 36.2 (+-2.6) percent who were Black and 20.9 (+-2.7) percent who were Hispanic.


• Children were more likely to be long-term participants in major assistance programs than elderly persons and nonelderly adults, 13.4 (+-1.2) percent versus 11.1 (+-1.6) and 5.6 (+-0.5) percent.


• Unemployed workers and those out of the labor force, although not significantly different from one another, had substantially higher long- term participation rates in major assistance programs than persons employed either full or part time.


• The presence of a work disability increased the likelihood of long-term participation in major assistance programs from 3.8 (+-0.5) to 18.3 (+-2.3) percent.


• Persons in female-householder families were 22 times as likely as persons in married-couple families to have received AFDC or General Assistance and 13 times as likely to have received food stamps on a long-term basis.