More whites than blacks on welfare despite myth

Jet, Nov 14, 1994

There are 14 million welfare recipients in America. And despite what most people think, the majority are not Black.

The truth is, about 39 percent of parents on welfare are White, 37 percent Black, 18 percent Hispanic and 6 percent Asian, Native American or another race.

"My bet is that most people, if forced to name a typical welfare recipient, would talk about a Black woman...whose mother received AFDC (Aid to Families For Dependent Children) before her and whose children will receive AFDC," says Univ. of Michigan economist Greg Duncan in USA Today. Duncan told the paper that the stereotype "just does not do justice to reality."