May 29, 2008

Fewer Mothers With a Recent Birth Rely on Government Assistance Than in 1996

The report, Participation of Mothers in Government Assistance Programs: 2004 (PDF - 452 KB), analyzes the socioeconomic characteristics of mothers participating in six different public assistance programs. It shows that in 1996, 42 percent of mothers with a birth in the previous year were participants in at least one of these six programs. The rate dipped to 29 percent in 2001 before climbing to 34 percent in 2004. These data were collected from June 2004 through September 2004 in the Survey of Income and Program Participation.

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