Families feel sharp edge of state budget cuts, By Monica Davey, September 6, 2011, New York Times: “Stretched beyond their limits and searching for new corners of their budgets to find spending cuts, states are now trimming benefits for residents who are in grim financial shape themselves. Some states, including Florida and Missouri, have decided to shrink the duration of state unemployment benefits paid to laid-off workers, while others, including Arizona and California, are creating new restrictions on cash aid for low-income residents. Here in Michigan, more than 11,000 families received letters last week notifying them that in October they will lose the cash assistance they have been provided for years. Next year, people who lose their jobs here will receive fewer weeks of state unemployment benefits, and those making little enough to qualify for the state’s earned income tax credit will see a far smaller benefit from it…”
Day: September 7, 2011
Economic Mobility in the US
Many in U.S. slip from middle class, study finds, By Michael A. Fletcher, September 6, 2011, Washington Post: “Nearly one in three Americans who grew up middle-class has slipped down the income ladder as an adult, according to a new report by the Pew Charitable Trusts. Downward mobility is most common among middle-class people who are divorced or separated from their spouses, did not attend college, scored poorly on standardized tests, or used hard drugs, the report says. ‘A middle-class upbringing does not guarantee the same status over the course of a lifetime,’ the report says. The study focused on people who were middle-class teenagers in 1979 and who were between 39 and 44 years old in 2004 and 2006. It defines people as middle-class if they fall between the 30th and 70th percentiles in income distribution, which for a family of four is between $32,900 and $64,000 a year in 2010 dollars. People were deemed downwardly mobile if they fell below the 30th percentile in income, if their income rank was 20 or more percentiles below their parents’ rank, or if they earn at least 20 percent less than their parents. The findings do not cover the difficult times that the nation has endured since 2007…”
TANF Program and Time Limits – Michigan
Gov. Rick Snyder says Michigan welfare system returned ‘to its original intent’ after signing law putting tighter 48-month limit on benefits, By Peter Luke, September 6, 2011, Kalamazoo Gazette: “Legislation that puts in place a more strict 48-month time limit on cash assistance benefits was signed into law today by Gov. Rick Snyder. ‘We are returning cash assistance to its original intent as a transitional program to help families while they work toward self-sufficiency and also preserving our state’s integral safety net for families most in need,’ Snyder said in a statement. ‘Affected recipients are able-bodied and have had at least four – some as long as 14 or more – years to transition to independence.’ Tighter enforcement of the four-year limit begins on Oct. 1 and some 11,000 households will lose their $500-a-month benefit. The Department of Human Resources is scheduling appointments with affected families to extend housing and job placement assistance for three months to those actively seeking employment…”