Number of Welfare Recipients Rises Sharply
The number of people claiming welfare has gone up in 23 of the 30 largest states since last year. The biggest increases can be found in states with the highest unemployment rates. The new figures are troublesome considering how difficult it is to qualify for welfare, which caters only to the very poor. In a time of recession and few jobs, many others may be slipping through the cracks because they don't qualify for help.
The number of people claiming welfare has gone up in 23 of the 30 largest states since last year. The biggest increases can be found in states with the highest unemployment rates. The new figures are troublesome considering how difficult it is to qualify for welfare, which caters only to the very poor. In a time of recession and few jobs, many others may be slipping through the cracks because they don’t qualify for help.
Wait, before you go…The Wall Street Journal:
Welfare rolls, which were slow to rise and actually fell in many states early in the recession, now are climbing across the country for the first time since President Bill Clinton signed legislation pledging “to end welfare as we know it” more than a decade ago.
Twenty-three of the 30 largest states, which account for more than 88% of the nation’s total population, see welfare caseloads above year-ago levels, according to a survey conducted by The Wall Street Journal and the National Conference of State Legislatures. As more people run out of unemployment compensation, many are turning to welfare as a stopgap.
The biggest increases are in states with some of the worst jobless rates. Oregon’s count was up 27% in May from a year earlier; South Carolina’s climbed 23% and California’s 10% between March 2009 and March 2008. A few big states that had seen declining welfare caseloads just a few months ago now are seeing increases: New York is up 1.2%, Illinois 3% and Wisconsin 3.9%. Welfare rolls in a few big states, Michigan and New Jersey among them, still are declining.
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