$672 Billion in Fiscal 1984 Social Spending Reported

Federal, state and local governments spent $672 billion in fiscal 1984 on social welfare programs, from Social Security checks for the aged to education for the young, a federal researcher reported Tuesday.

That was almost $30 billion, or 4.7%, more than in 1983. But, taking inflation into account, the increase in real dollars was $3.3 billion, or 0.5%.

“This is the lowest real year-to-year increase since 1978-79, when real expenditures dropped 0.1%,” Ann Kallman Bixby of the Social Security Administration’s Office of Research and Statistics reported.

The figures reflect all money spent on Social Security benefits, Medicare, Medicaid, welfare, veterans’ programs, education, housing, pensions and other programs.

Growth of GNP

Social welfare expenditures represented 18.2% of the gross national product in 1984, down from 19.3% in 1983. That was because the social spending was growing by only 0.5% in real dollars, whereas real GNP “grew nearly 7% in the same period,” Bixby wrote in a brief statistical report.

State and local governments spent a larger share of funds on social welfare than did the federal government--59% versus 50%.

But Washington provided most of the dollars--$419.3 billion, contrasted with $252.7 billion spent by state and local governments.

In 1976, social welfare spending accounted for 60 cents of every dollar spent by government at all levels. In 1984, the social welfare programs spent less than 53 cents from every government dollar.

Social welfare spending still accounted for a majority share of the federal budget, but it contracted during the first three years of the Reagan Administration. Social welfare programs claimed 53.9% of the federal budget in 1981 and 50.2% in 1984.

During the same period, social welfare expenditures by states and localities dropped from 62% to 59% of their budgets.

Pensions, Schools

The figure of $672 billion encompasses everything from Social Security checks and civil service pensions to food stamps.