Report reveals blacks now outnumber whites on U.S. welfare rolls

Jet, August 17, 1998

Although welfare recipients are leaving the system at unprecedented rates, Whites are finding their way from welfare to work much faster than Blacks and Hispanics.

The disproportionately large numbers of Whites who have been able to leave welfare has altered the racial balance in a program long rife with racial conflict and stereotypes.

In the past, scholars have noted that there were more White families in America on welfare than there were Blacks. That is no longer the case. Blacks now outnumber Whites. Black and Hispanic welfare recipients combined now outnumber Whites 2-1, according to a New York Times report.

There are numerous explanations for the changing racial demographics which include possible discrimination by employers or landlords in neighborhoods near jobs.

Also, unpublished data from the Census Bureau, prepared for the New York Times, suggest that minority recipients were significantly more disadvantaged than Whites when the rolls peaked in 1994. On average they had less education, lower incomes and more children.

Rep. Donald Payne (D-NJ) warned that the growing minority share of the rolls could erode support for welfare spending and reinforce racial bias in general.