THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
PRESIDENT CLINTON WILL ANNOUNCE RECORD CASELOAD DECLINE
AND LANDMARK WELFARE REFORM RULES TO PROMOTE WORK
April 10, 1999
Today, President Clinton will announce that welfare caseloads have fallen by a record 6.5 million people since he took office, falling by half or more in 29 states and nearly half nationwide. The President will unveil landmark new welfare regulations which will promote work and help those who have left the rolls succeed in the workforce and stay off welfare. He will call on Congress to do more to help working families obtain child care, housing, and transportation and to assist welfare recipients with the greatest challenges to employment by reauthorizing the Department of Labor's Welfare-to-Work program.
Welfare Rolls Decline As More Recipients Go to Work
President Clinton will announce that welfare caseloads are at their lowest level since 1969 and that welfare rolls have fallen by nearly half since he took office. The number of recipients fell from 14.1 million in January 1993 to 7.6 million in December 1998 -- 342,000 fewer recipients than 3 months earlier and more than 6.5 million since he took office, a drop of 46 percent. The rolls have declined by 4.6 million people, or 38 percent, since he signed the welfare law in August 1996. Since 1993, welfare rolls have declined in all states, with 29 states recording declines of half or more. The President will also announce today that the federal government has hired nearly 12,000 welfare recipients, exceeding the 10,000 goal set two years ago this month. Today's announcements add to earlier statistics showing that companies in the Welfare to Work Partnership have hired over 410,000 welfare recipients, the percentage of welfare recipients working has tripled since 1992, an estimated 1.5 million people who were on welfare in 1997 were working in 1998, and all states met the first overall work participation rates required under the welfare reform law.
Final Welfare Regulations Promote Work and State Innovation
Six years after he began his efforts to end welfare as we know it, and two and a half years after signing into law historic welfare reform legislation, today the President will announce landmark regulations enforcing the law's strict work requirements. First, these rules will hold states accountable for measurable results in moving families into work while providing flexibility for states to create innovative programs that build on the successes of welfare reform. Second, to ensure the millions of people who have left the welfare rolls succeed in the workforce -- and to keep others from going on welfare in the first place -- these final welfare regulations will make it easier for states to use TANF funds to provide supports for working families such as child care, transportation, and job retention services. These regulations mark an important milestone in the transformation of our welfare system into one that honors our values of work, responsibility, and family.
Call on Congress to Do More to Help Working Families and Help Those Still on Rolls
The President will call upon Congress to do more to ensure those still on the welfare rolls go to work by urging Congress to reauthorize the Department of Labor's Welfare-to-Work program to increase the employment of long-term recipients in high poverty areas and help low-income fathers better support their children, and to fully fund his welfare to work transportation and housing vouchers proposals. The President will also call on Congress to take bipartisan action this year to address the critical child care needs of America's working families. According to the most recent figures, ten million families are eligible for federal subsidies, yet only 1.25 million received support in 1997. In March, the Senate voted by a bipartisan majority of 57 - 40 to set aside $12 billion over 10 years for child care in its budget resolution.
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Welfare-to-Work
Commitments and Hires through March 22, 1999
as Reported by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management
Report prepared: 2/2/1999, 10:30
Agency Total Hires % of Total
Commitment Reported Year 2000
Thru 2000 Thru Commitment
March 2000 Hired Since 3/8/97
Commodity Futures Trading -- 3 --
Commission
Department of Agriculture 375 398 106%
Department of Commerce 4180 4188 100%
Department of Defense 1600 2107 132%
Department of Education 21 26 124%
Department of Energy 55 70 127%
Department of Health & 300 319 106%
Human Services
Department of Housing & 200 134 67%
Department of the Interior 325 216 66%
Department of Justice 450 254 56%
Department of Labor 120 153 128%
Department of State 220 56 25%
Department of Transportation 400 253 63%
Department of the Treasury 405 1514 374%
Department of Veterans 800 1358 170%
Affairs
Environmental Protection 120 82 68%
Agency
Equal Employment Opportunity -- 9 --
Commission
Executive Office of the 6 8 133%
President
Federal Emergency Management 125 60 48%
Agency
General Services 121 95 79%
Administration
National Aeronautics & Space 40 24 60%
Administration
National Archives & Records -- 30 --
Administration
National Credit Union -- 5 --
Administration
National Endowment for the -- 1 --
Humanities
National Labor Relations -- 1 --
Board
Office of Government Ethics -- 1 --
Office of Personnel 25 57 228%
Management
Railroad Retirement Board -- 1 --
Securities & Exchange 10 12 120%
Commission
Small Business 120 61 51%
Administration
Social Security 600 434 72%
Administration
U.S. Information Agency 20 27 135%
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory -- 1 --
Commission
TOTAL 10638 11958 112%