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Cutting Welfare Causes Illegitimacy
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In the name of arguing for welfare "reform", conservatives have
argued that the creation of the welfare state led to out-of-wedlock births.
Given their arguments, we should expect to have seen a decline in
illegitimacy over the last two decades as welfare checks have been cut.
Yet, the evidence shows the exact opposite results.
Let's look at a comparison of montly AFDC checks per family (in 1993
dollars to compensate for inflation) versus Out-of-Wedlock births
(measure in number of out-of-wedlock births per 1,000 unmarried women.)
Year AFDC Check Out-of-Wedlock Births
------ ------------ ----------------------
1970 $663 25.4
1975 $564 24.5
1980 $480 28.4
1985 $455 32.8
1990 $428 43.8
1992 $394 45.2
% Decrease in AFDC checks= -41%
% Increase in Out-of-Wedlock Births= +78%
SOURCE: Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies
By any reasonable analysis, it appears that cutting welfare over the last
twenty years has not cut illegitmacy but, if anything, has contributed to
it by denying women the funds for day care and other needs that would
allow them to work.
We should use these numbers to strongly challenge the endless
conservative lies that welfare somehow causes a "culture of poverty.'"
What causes poverty is low wages, the absense of jobs, and the failure of
the government to support people in ending poverty.
