The Nation - News from April 28, 1989

Nearly a fifth of all Americans, including a fourth of all children, received welfare for at least one month and in many cases far longer during a nearly three-year period ending in 1986, the Census Bureau reported. In a detailed study of welfare patterns, the bureau found that for blacks, Latinos, unmarried mothers and children, the welfare rate was far higher than for the population as a whole, with almost half of blacks and a third of Latinos in the nation receiving welfare at some time during the period. The bureau surveyed about 20,000 families periodically over 32 months from 1983 to 1986 to see whether and for how long they received aid under any of five major federal or state welfare programs. The survey found that during the period, 18.3% of all Americans, or more than 40 million people, received aid for at least a month under one or more of the five programs, half of them for two years or more.