. "7. Ethnic and Racial Differences in Welfare Receipt in the United States." America Becoming: Racial Trends and Their Consequences, Volume II. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 2001.
The following HTML text is provided to enhance online
readability. Many aspects of typography translate only awkwardly to HTML.
Please use the page image
as the authoritative form to ensure accuracy.
America Becoming: Racial Trends and Their Consequences - Volume II
TABLE 7–1 Participation Rates of Households in Means-Tested Welfare Programs, 1994–1996 (percent)
AFDC
Food Stamps
Medicaid
Housing Assistance
Hispanic
11.8
20.1
24.5
9.1
Non-Hispanic White
2.7
5.7
8.3
3.5
Non-Hispanic Black
14.0
23.3
27.0
15.3
American Indian and Aleut. Eskimo
15.6
24.5
43.8
11.4
Asian and Pacific Islander
4.9
7.1
13.5
5.3
SOURCE: Authors’ tabulations from the March 1994, 1995, and 1996 Current Population Surveys.
FIGURE 7–2 Percentage of benefit usage from any of the welfare programs, by race, 1985–1995. SOURCE: Authors’ tabulations from Current Population Survey.
ertheless signals racial and ethnic usage differences that should be a policy concern. That more than one-half of all American Indians and Alaska Natives, and more than one-third of non-Hispanic Blacks and Hispanics, receive benefits from at least one type of program reflects a disadvantaged status and degree of dependency that have to be regarded as very high.
