ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, September 17, 1996 TAG: 9609170095
SECTION: NATL/INTL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: Associated Press
NOTE: Below
The myth: Typical welfare recipients are unemployed, inner-city minorities whose families have been on public assistance for generations. But a new study found that most welfare recipients are white and live in the suburbs or rural areas - and a third will lift themselves out of poverty within 12 months.
The findings of the private Population Reference Bureau study released Monday are no surprise to those who work with the poor - or those who have been on public assistance.
``I hear a lot of people say `Those people don't want to work, and they're lazy,' and all those things, and it's really not true,'' said Jim Bland, a social services worker in rural Alpena, Mich. ``Everyone wants to feel good, and everyone wants to work for what they have.''
Bland ought to know: For two years, he was on welfare himself - relying on public assistance after suffering a heart attack and finding himself unable to get hired at any of the cement plants that are major employers in the area where he and his wife moved in 1993.
``It's a real humbling experience, to have to go in and admit you can't make it, and that you need someone else's help,'' Bland recalled. ``You feel like a failure to your family.''
Bland - typical of the average welfare recipient, since he is white and was living in a non-urban area - augmented his meager welfare payments by working part time as a grocery stocker and a security guard before landing a job with one of the state agencies that helped get him back on his feet.
The survey found that Bland and his welfare experience are far from unique.
The Population Reference Bureau, an independent nonprofit research organization that studies population issues, looked at Census data for 1994, the last year for which complete figures are available. It found that non-Hispanic whites make up 48 percent of the poor, followed by blacks, 27 percent, and Hispanics, 22 percent.
The study also found that while nearly 40 percent of the nation's poor live in families headed by a single female, 34 percent live in two-parent homes.
Among the other ``myths of poverty'' challenged by the report:
* While many Americans believe that those who are poor will remain dependent on public assistance for years, the study found that one out of three people living below the poverty line will lift themselves out of poverty within 12 months.
* While the poor are assumed to be anti-work, the study found that 40 percent of the nation's 38 million poor people are children who are not of legal working age and 10 percent are over the age of 65.
* While it is often assumed that the poor live primarily off welfare benefits, the study found that less than half the poor receive actual cash benefits from the government.
What's more, even those who receive cash from the government would find it difficult to make ends meet with the money they receive.
``You have to go far below the poverty level to get welfare here, and the maximum welfare payments wouldn't get them to half of the poverty line,'' said Joyce Rosenberg, a spokeswoman for the Georgia Department of Human Services.
Aid to Families with Dependent Children, or AFDC, is the main cash-assistance welfare program, and Rosenberg said the typical Georgia family - one parent and two children - receives $250 per month in benefits. AFDC is being replaced by block grants to states under the new welfare overhaul.
The survey found that those living in poverty earned more than half of their income from wages, or job-related sources such as pensions.
And while many believe that AFDC takes up larger and larger chunks of the federal budget, AFDC program costs have been relatively constant over the past 20 years - representing about 2 percent of the federal budget.
``When they're talking about cutting welfare, what politicians often do for effect is focus on large urban areas - Atlanta, Detroit or Newark - and make everybody believe that's the face of welfare,'' said Bill Bolling, director of the Atlanta Community Food Bank. ``Of course, the reality is far different from what you find in those 10-second sound bites.''
LENGTH: Medium: 77 linesby CNB