Recession and TANF Enrollment – Indiana

Poor economy hasn’t bumped up welfare rolls, By Maureen Groppe, July 16, 2010, Muncie Star Press: “One in 10 Hoosier workers is unemployed. More residents are living in poverty. The number of Hoosiers on food stamps and Medicaid is the highest it’s been in years. But one safety-net program isn’t bulging: welfare. In fact, the number of people getting welfare checks through the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program has declined. Indiana is one of only three states that haven’t qualified for extra TANF funding during the recession because the number of families receiving cash assistance hasn’t increased and neither has spending for short-term emergency assistance or for subsidized employment programs. The two other states that haven’t gotten extra funding, Wyoming and Nebraska, have much lower unemployment rates than Indiana’s 10 percent. Wyoming’s unemployment rate is 7 percent, and Nebraska’s is 4.9 percent. More Hoosiers aren’t getting cash assistance, despite the poor economy, because Indiana’s eligibility rules are among the toughest in the country, according to Jim Dunn, policy manager for Indiana’s TANF program…”