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Welfare Rolls Drop Sharply in Suburbs but Slower in the District

Carol S. Meyers and
CSM
Carol S. Meyers
Philip M. Dearborn
PMD
Philip M. Dearborn

July 1, 2000

Since federal welfare reform was enacted in 1996, the Washington area has seen a 50 percent reduction in welfare cases from 47,730 in January 1996 to 24,020 in March 2000.


The declines range from a 78 percent reduction in Montgomery County to a 32 percent reduction in the District. As a result of these decreases, Montgomery County had only 898 cases open in March 2000. In contrast, the District after its decrease, still had 17,413 cases open.


The Welfare to Work series was funded by the Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer Foundation and
The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation.