This is an archive page. The links are no longer being updated.

News Release

HHS RELEASES TANF ANNUAL REPORT TO CONGRESS
Report Documents Successes in Moving Americans from Welfare to Work

HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson today announced the release of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Fifth Annual Report to Congress. The report, covering fiscal year 2001, highlights the status of the TANF caseloads, work participation rates, state expenditures, characteristics of TANF recipients, and other state policies.

"This report demonstrates once again that welfare reform in America is helping people go to work and build better lives for themselves and their families," Secretary Thompson said. "We must not turn our back on the opportunity to move beyond the existing program and help millions of Americans begin or continue to climb the career ladder. We are committed to improving upon this highly successful program so it continues to help families complete the transition from the dependence upon a welfare check to the independence of a paycheck."

The annual report shows that since TANF's enactment, there have been dramatic increases in employment of current and former welfare recipients. Earnings for welfare recipients remaining on the rolls have increased, as have earnings for female-headed households. Child poverty rates are at their lowest levels in decades.

"States are taking advantage of the flexibility built into the program to target an increasing portion of welfare dollars to help individuals retain and advance in their jobs," said Dr. Wade F. Horn, assistant secretary for the Administration for Children and Families, the agency responsible for the TANF program.

By the end of fiscal year 2001, states reported spending 92 percent of the nearly $81 billion in federal TANF funds distributed to them since the inception of the program. Of the total funds provided, 76 percent was expended directly through the state TANF programs, 10 percent was transferred to the Child Care and Development Fund and 6 percent was transferred to the Social Services Block Grant.

The employment rate of current and former TANF recipients increased significantly since TANF was enacted, but has leveled in recent years and declined slightly between fiscal year 2000 and fiscal year 2001. In addition, the percent of adults for whom no hours of participation are reported has remained nearly 60 percent over the past three years. About 83 percent of recipients who were working in fiscal year 2001 were in paid employment. The remaining recipients were in work experience, community service and subsidized employment.

State-reported data for welfare recipients show that the average monthly earnings of those employed increased from $466 per month in fiscal year 1996 to $686 in fiscal year 2001, a 49 percent increase.

Between 1996 and 2001, the overall child poverty rate dropped 20 percent. In that same time period, the African American child poverty rate dropped from 39.9 percent to 30.2 percent, the lowest rate on record; the Hispanic child poverty rate dropped from 40.3 percent to 28.0 percent, the largest five-year drop on record. In married two-parent families (in 2000), about one child in 12 (or 8 percent) was poor, while about 39 percent of the children living in a female-headed, single-parent family were poor.

In 1996, the Congress created the TANF program, which was enacted under the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA), replacing the Aid to Families with Dependent Children and related welfare programs. The law is currently awaiting congressional reauthorization. TANF is a $16.5 billion a year block grant to the states.

The full report is available at http://www.acf.dhhs.gov/programs/ofa/annualreport5/index.htm

###

Note: All HHS press releases, fact sheets and other press materials are available at http://www.hhs.gov/news.

Last Revised: February 12, 2003