Welfare Reform
Where does Washington rank?

As Congress prepares to re-authorize its historic 1996 welfare reform law, it is time to reflect on Washington's progress. Since 1993, the United States Department of Health and Human Services has kept its eye on the status of states helping people out of the welfare system and into sustainable employment. Where does Washington rank?

Percentage of the population on welfare
Following are statistics showing how Washington ranks among its neighbors:

Source: U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services as of September 2001

Welfare recipients
From January 1993 through September 2001, the national welfare caseload reduction was 62 percent. Washington's reduction rate was 48 percent, while most other western states had higher reduction rates. During that time, only nine fell below Washington in reducing welfare caseloads, including Hawaii and Alaska.

Number of Welfare Recipients

Source: U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services as of September 2001.

During the economic boom times between 1993 and 2001, if Washington had matched Idaho's rate of caseload reduction, 107,772 fewer people would be on welfare in our state. If our state had met Oregon's rate of reduction, Washington would have had 34,792 fewer welfare caseloads in September 2001.

Conclusion
As President Bush seeks to enhance the current welfare laws by adding work requirements for benefit receipt, Washington officials must strive to improve the state's caseload reductions as well. Since Washington's 48 percent caseload reduction is far below the U.S. average of 62 percent, lawmakers should establish comprehensive goals for continued decreases the rest of this decade.

While it is true Washington is still in a recession and the state is facing high unemployment, the vast majority of the positions eliminated or lost were high wage jobs. Generally, individuals leaving welfare enter the workforce in low to medium wage positions to gain skills and confidence (service jobs). Those jobs are more readily available. While it may be more difficult to reduce caseloads during hard economic times, we owe it to taxpayers, benefit recipients and their children to provide the opportunities necessary to pursue the American dream. All parties will benefit as more of our state's citizens become self-sufficient.

Prepared by Hans Zeiger, Research Assistant
Contact: Jason Mercier, Budget Research Analyst, (360) 956-3482 or jmercier@effwa.org

Evergreen Freedom Foundation P.O. Box 552, Olympia, WA 98507 Phone: (360) 956-3482, Fax: (360) 352-1874 Email: effwa@effwa.org