ND officials say fewer families depending on welfare

When North Dakota officials decided to assess just how welfare had fared in the past ten years, the numbers were enough to know.

Last June, 2,073 North Dakota families received TANF aid, according to the Jamestown Sun.

To put that in perspective, the North Dakota Department of Human Services website reports that, “in July 1997, when the state implemented welfare reform, 3,859 families were receiving TANF assistance.”

But in the past several years, a closer look will show that the decrease in families often had nothing to do with finding stable jobs.

• Of 7,392 TANF cases closed between July 2005 and June 2007:
  • 180 are listed as closed due to employment; 42 because the five-year limit was reached
  • 225 because they were sanctioned for not complying with work or educational programs
  • 1,508 because they had excess unearned income or began collecting child support due them.
  • Other reasons account for the rest.

The drop in welfare families comes in large part because of the state’s excellent economy, state officials said last week.