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![handle is hein.amenin/aeiabwp0001 and id is 1 raw text is:
Key Points
,N Apo ir,-eiy one-tiri r-)f warking-(lass peape i A erica (defined by incorre beween
thie 20th and 11th percentile with no coiiege degree) receive governreni't safety-net
benefts.
, a ir~c C 99 , in :nq. ar-as i rdin ' O sO: re oCiwo :,hc lass pei I- ha ,* re.:c:Give:'c i rn e r~m rnt saf': -t
net bene Ihn 1998, one in five received assistance; in 201,i it was alnost one in thiee
, ihis increas'e was drve-r ainost entirey by edi &Ki r rood assita nce, and disabiljtIy
asistance,
, UnwsTrringhy, the shire of working-a peopI'fr,- w receive benefits-,i below that
ol iower i-ronto eopic and 0aove hat of higher-rcome peoplo, but the in(riase since
1 998 0i uriqe to the working cass,
The 2:-66 pres'dental clection raised questions tbout
vhio makes up the %vorki-ig class and wFhat inoth'ates
them, The Great Recessio. exposed -considerable
ecom ..ornicsil;tiivvaiongrhis gioup ofAnteriens-s,
perhaps leading Lo the cunrent wave of economic
populism and a certain leste. of distrust for te federai
oveinnit. As we my to understand this goup note,
a Cew qiestions cone to i ind: i-tow mc h do they
benefit from governient progranisi Has this changed
over time? And to wHat exent do they resem.ble tie
poor or the unperi--jddle-class in. terms of parin-l
parng in government propnsKra ts?
This reposo sponsored byl:the Op-omttey Arnseea
AI '1iBrookings Vo lng Group on Whe Voring Class,
ansvers those questions. It documents the daae of
the wo rlng class that received dilffe reut goxernment
safety-net beneits fr. In 19,98 to 20-14 and compares
them to lower- and Lighcr-inceme in id'uals, Perhaps
unsurprisiigly, the share of the wor'a ing class that
receives government benefits falls between that of
poor Anericans and higher-inco e Americans. But
te increase in participaton among tie arm-king
class outpaced both groups.
O-verall, the share of the working class rceiving
government benefits has increased toi three programs
in particular -----Medic.,id, Suppleneflta Nutrition
Assistance Program tSNAP), and Social Security
Ilisab]ity i nsurance (SSDD)--rand the increase ap-
pears to outpace Wvhat would be expected fro the
business cycle alone. INt more research is needed
to determiic whether the business e cl alon e or
odito fat :rs suc h as poicy and dem:ograpltc shauoges,
has driven this increase.
What Share of the Working Class
Receives Saftty-Net Bnefits?
Data f-oin different panels of the Survey of income
and Prc grarn Particip;tion (SIPP) were used to
document the share of wo'king-class people who
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