Traits of families on AFDC (1) Race -------------- White 38.8% Black 37.2 Hispanic 17.8 Asian 2.8 Other 3.4 Time on AFDC --------------------------- Less than 7 months 19.0% 7 to 12 months 15.2 One to two years 19.3 Two to five years 26.9 Over five years 19.6 Number of children ------------------- One 43.2% Two 30.7 Three 15.8 Four or more 10.3 Age of Mother ------------------ Teenager 7.6% 20 - 29 47.9 30 - 39 32.7 40 or older 11.8 Status of Father 1973 1992 ------------------------------------- Divorced or separated 46.5% 28.6 Deceased 5.0 1.6 Unemployed or Disabled 14.3 9.0 Not married to mother 31.5 55.3 Other or Unknown 2.7 5.5
Notes on teenagers
As the statistics show, teenage mothers comprise a very small part
of the welfare population.
And contrary to popular belief, teenage pregnancy has declined in the
last several decades. Many are surprised to learn that the height of teenage
pregnancy in the U.S. actually occurred in the 1950s - a decade known for
its supposed conservative social values. Between 1960 and 1992, the number
of births per 1,000 teenagers (aged 15-19) declined from 89 to 61. (2)
However, this was also an era when individual welfare benefits declined.
Between 1970 and 1991, the purchasing power of benefits for the typical
AFDC family fell 42 percent, primarily as a result of state and federal
cuts. (3) Ironically, many conservatives will be surprised to learn that
their correlation still stands, even if they thought it was in the other
direction.
However, the period from 1946 to 1963 is known as the "Baby Boom,"
because all childbearing age groups - not just teenagers - were
having children at unusually high rates. The teenage birth rate is not
the only one that has declined in the decades since.
Furthermore, the socially conservative 50s featured much less sex education,
and many sexually active teenagers were ignorant of birth control. The
falling teenage birthrates in the last several decades could as well be
correlated with better sex education as falling individual welfare payments.
And on that score, we should compare the U.S to Europe, which not only
promotes early sex education to a far greater degree, but also has far
greater welfare benefits for mothers with dependent children. And the success
or failure of these two very different policies can be seen in the following
statistics:
Sexually active teenage population: (4) Norway 66% United States 65 United Kingdom 57 Germany 56 Canada 53 Italy 34 France 34 Percent who have not had intercourse by age 20: Boys Girls Belgium 61 63 Netherlands 58 62 Germany 33 28 Norway 33 25 United Kingdom 24 23 France 9 25 United States 12 16 Percent of sexually active single 15 to 19-year olds using birth control: Germany 95% United Kingdom 92 Netherlands 88 Norway 87 Sweden 79 Denmark 70 United States 56 Teen pregnancies per 1,000 teenagers: United States 98.0 United Kingdom 46.6 Norway 40.2 Canada 38.6 Finland 32.1 Sweden 28.3 Denmark 27.9 Netherlands 12.1 Japan 10.5 Teenage mothers per 1,000 teenagers United States 54 United Kingdom 31 Canada 28 France 25 Norway 25 Germany 20 Finland 19 Denmark 16 Switzerland 10 Netherlands 9 Japan 4
Notes on race
Blacks comprise only 12 percent of the nation, but, according to
the above figures, they comprise 37 percent of the welfare rolls. This
should not be surprising; in 1994, blacks had a poverty rate of 33 percent.
We should not, of course, think it unusual to find poor people on welfare.
Consequently, discussions of race and welfare must turn on different issues.
The most prevalent question is why there are so many blacks in poverty.
Liberals argue that it is the result of continuing racism and discrimination,
especially at hiring time. Conservatives have argued a variety of other
causes: moral shortcomings, poor work ethic, even intellectual inferiority.
Another important question is whether welfare causes poverty.
These are large topics that can hardly be condensed into a single essay.
But they are treated at length in other segments of this FAQ:
Does welfare create poverty?
The Bell Curve debate.
Return to Overview
Endnotes:
1. Overview of Entitlement Programs, Committee on Ways and
Means, U.S. House of Representatives (U.S. Government Printing Office,
1994).
2. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,
Characteristics and Financial Condition of AFDC Recipients, Fiscal
Year 1992 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1992); 1994 Green
Book, p. 47.
3. Paul Taylor, "When Safety Nets Leave the Needy in Free Fall,"
Washington Post National Weekly Edition, September 9-11, 1991.
4. All statistics charts on teen sex taken from Where We Stand,
by Michael Wolff, Peter Rutten, Albert Bayers III, eds., and the World
Rank Research Team (New York: Bantam Books, 1992), pp. 242-55.