WELFARE SPENDING MISSES THE NEEDIEST

According to a Johns Hopkins University study, assistance to the lowest-earning single-parent families decreased 35% between 1983 and 2004, while increasing 74% for families with slightly higher earnings. A family of four earning $11,925 a year got less aid than a same-sized family earning $47,700” in 2014 dollars, the report notes. This is partly because the programs that expanded over that time serve specialized populations – the Supplemental Security Income program (which assists seniors and the disabled) and the Earned Income Tax Credit (which supports the employed) – while programs serving wider populations have not kept up. There’s been a shift toward providing support to the nation’s needy based on seeming merit, and not direct numeric need, according to lead researcher Robert A. Moffitt.

 

Source:  PBS Newshour, 5/6/14, Missing the Neediest