The Commerce Department’s Census Bureau today released data files from the Survey of Program Dynamics (SPD), a survey mandated by federal law to assess the impact of the 1996 Welfare Reform Act. Federal agencies, researchers and others are expected to use the data to refine initial assessments.

     “The data files released today, 1992-1998 Survey of Program Dynamics Longitudinal File, will enable researchers to follow individuals over time,” said Daniel Weinberg, chief of the Housing and Household Economic Statistics Division. “They will provide a more complete picture of the effects of welfare reform than previous Census Bureau surveys.”

     The survey eventually will provide 10 years of data (1992-2001) on participation in programs such as Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), Food Stamps, free or reduced-price school lunches and Supplemental Security Income.

     The survey collected information from about 30,000 households in 1997, followed by interviews with about 18,000 of these households in subsequent years. It also measures changes in the economic circumstances of people first interviewed in the 1992 and 1993 panels of the Survey of Income and Program Participation. Information about these households will be available for years before, during and after the implementation of welfare reform.

     The 1996 Welfare Reform Act implemented the TANF program, which replaced Aid to Families with Dependent Children, the main welfare program for families. TANF provides welfare support in the form of block grants to states, enabling them to offer limited cash assistance, job training and placement help, and other assistance.

     In addition to the data file, the Census Bureau released an analytic report, Preparing to Measure Welfare Reform using the Longitudinal Survey of Program Dynamics: 2001, which provides a first look at the kind of data available from the survey.

     Because of sample attrition, the SPD data in any one year should not be considered a nationally representative survey of the population and may not be comparable with other data sources. The value of these data are in the picture they give of changes over time.

- X -