More Working Class Americans Receive Safety Net Benefits
In the last 20 years, the proportion of working-class Americans (defined as those between the 20th and 50th income percentile without a college degree) who receive government safety net benefits has increased significantly, according to a new report from the American Enterprise Institute. The Working Class and the Federal Government’s Social Safety Net finds that in 1998, one in five working class people received assistance; in 2014, nearly one-third did. The increase is unique to the working class and driven almost entirely by the growing pool of people who qualify for Medicaid, food assistance, and disability benefits, according to the report.