Social Insurance and Public Assistance

SOCIAL WELFARE EXPENDITURES Series Bf 188–195 735
TABLE Bf 188–195 Public expenditures on social welfare: 1890–1995 Continued
Health and Veterans’ Other social
Total Social insurance Public aid medical programs programs Education Housing welfare programs
Bf188 Bf189 Bf190 Bf191 Bf192 Bf193 Bf194 Bf195
Fiscal year Million dollars Million dollars Million dollars Million dollars Million dollars Million dollars Million dollars Million dollars
1980 492,713.7 2 229,754.4 72,703.1 27,263.0 2 21,465.5 121,049.6 6,879.0 13,599.1
1981 552,882.8 3 267,394.8 83,634.0 29,588.0 23,440.9 3 130,108.5 6,733.5 3 11,983.1
1982 601,344.9 3 302,614.8 82,206.2 3 32,870.0 24,708.1 138,089.3 9,202.1 11,654.4
1983 649,229.1 331,161.2 88,330.7 34,090.0 25,801.9 146,415.4 10,963.5 12,466.4
1984 678,112.1 341,120.2 92,979.4 35,722.0 26,274.9 157,188.9 11,531.8 13,294.9
1985 732,249.5 3, 2 369,595.2 98,361.8 39,053.0 2 27,041.7 3 172,047.5 12,598.5 13,551.8
1986 781,725.2 390,770.1 104,200.2 43,953.0 27,444.9 189,234.6 11,961.8 3 14,160.6
1987 834,121.9 412,873.9 112,115.1 48,067.0 28,050.8 204,563.7 13,173.5 15,277.9
1988 887,951.2 3 434,051.3 119,723.4 53,096.0 29,663.4 3 219,382.2 16,555.9 15,479.0
1989 957,394.6 3 468,051.7 3 128,609.8 57,123.0 30,103.7 3 238,771.0 18,126.7 16,608.7
1990 1,048,950.8 513,821.8 146,811.1 61,684.0 30,916.2 258,331.6 19,468.5 17,917.6
1991 1,159,626.4 561,175.2 181,334.4 65,810.0 32,857.3 277,147.1 21,522.6 19,779.8
1992 1,266,867.1 618,938.8 207,953.0 70,114.0 35,642.0 292,070.6 20,617.2 21,531.5
1993 1,366,754.1 3 659,209.9 220,999.8 74,717.0 3 36,378.3 331,996.8 20,782.3 22,670.0
1994 1,435,819.3 3 683,778.7 238,025.3 80,235.0 3 37,894.8 344,091.0 27,032.0 24,762.5
1995 1,505,136.4 705,483.3 253,530.0 85,507.0 39,072.0 365,625.3 29,361.1 26,557.7
1 See text on inclusion of Alaska, Hawai’i, and outlying areas.
2 The data reported in the 1997 and 1999 source articles do not precisely match the
data in the July 1995 source, owing to revisions in the procedures for estimating
health expenditures. The differences for them are typically less than $500 million.
3 Revised figure. See text.
4 Public aid included with other social welfare services.
Sources
Estimates presented for 1890 and 1913 were based primarily on the following:
R. A. Musgrave and J. J. Culbertson, “The Growth of Public Expenditures
in the U.S., 1890–1948,” National Tax Journal (June 1953): 97–115; J. Frederic
Dewhurst and Associates, America’s Needs and Resources (Twentieth Century
Fund, 1955); and reports of official agencies. Data for 1929–1989, U.S. Social
Security Administration, Social Welfare Expenditures under Public Programs
in the United States, 1929–90 (July 1995); Ann Kallman Bixby, “Public Social
Welfare Expenditures, Fiscal Year 1992,” Social Security Bulletin 58 (2) (1995):
65–73. Data for 1990–1995 are from Ann Kallman Bixby, “Public Social
Welfare Expenditures, Fiscal Year 1994,” Social Security Bulletin 60 (3) (1997):
42; and Ann Kallman Bixby, “Public Social Welfare Expenditures, Fiscal Year
1995,” Social Security Bulletin 62 (2) (1999): 88.
The information is updated annually in the Social Security Bulletin and the
Social Security Bulletin: Annual Statistical Supplement, Table 3.A3.
Documentation
The material for the period 1929–1964 was first reported in Ida C. Merriam
and Alfred M. Skolnik, Social Welfare Expenditures under Public Programs in the
United States, 1929–1966, Research Report number 25 (U.S. Social Security
Administration, 1968). This report included a compendium of detailed data
covering each year from 1929 to 1966, and a complete description of the
methodology used in formulating the series. In situations where the published
information for a year differs in the sources, the number published
later was used with one exception: there was a misprint for the 1991 data
in the 1996 Annual Statistical Supplement, and so the data for 1991 are from
Summer 1995 Social Security Bulletin.
Information on the state and local breakdown for all of the programs
in Tables Bf212–270 from 1929 through 1989 is available in U.S. Social
Security Administration (July 1995); Merriam and Skolnik (1968); and the
annual articles in the Social Security Bulletin. For example, see Ann Kallman
Bixby, “Public Social Welfare Expenditures, Fiscal Year 1994,” Social Security
Bulletin 60 (3) (1997): 43–4; and Ann Kallman Bixby, “Public Social Welfare
Expenditures, Fiscal Year 1995,” Social Security Bulletin 62 (2) (1999):
89, 90.
Scattered data relating to social welfare programs in particular localities
or states may be found in other sources. The definitions used in these
sources, however, are highly variable and the original source of the data is frequently
not indicated. No data comparable to those shown for 1929–1993
are readily available.
Social welfare expenditures include the areas of income maintenance,
health, education, housing, veterans’ benefits, and other welfare services
directed specifically toward promoting the economic and social welfare of
individuals and families. The social welfare expenditures data collected by
the U.S. Social Security Administration fit the definitions of social welfare
spending used by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development
and the International Labour Office. Expenditures are grouped on
the basis of statutory programs and administrative structure rather than
strictly by function. Finally, the economic status of the individual or family
receiving benefits is not a criterion for inclusion in the series. Rather, the
requirement is that the funds be expended through the government apparatus
in compliance with or as a result of public law. For further information
about the components of these series, see the text for Tables Bf212–270.
Social welfare expenditures under public programs represent payments
from federal, state, and local revenues (general and special) and trust funds.
They include capital outlays as well as administrative expenses unless otherwise
noted. Some payments abroad are included. Programs or services
financed by loans are excluded. The expenditures are reported on a fiscal
year basis. Through 1976, the fiscal year ended June 30 for the federal government,
most states, and some localities. Beginning in 1977, federal fiscal
years end on September 30.
Data on federal programs include expenditures in Alaska and Hawai’i for
all years; state and local data include expenditures in Alaska and Hawai’i from
the year of their admission to the Union. Data include federal expenditures
(and matching local expenditures under grant programs) in Puerto Rico,
the Virgin Islands, Guam, Trust Territory of the Pacific, American Samoa, and
the Panama Canal Zone, as well as expenditures to beneficiaries of some
of the income-maintenance programs residing in foreign countries, and
that part of Defense Department education and health expenses incurred
abroad.
Wherever possible, data for federal, federal–state, and federal–local
programs were drawn from published and unpublished materials of the
appropriate federal agencies and from the annual Budget of the United States
Government. The principal source for state, state–local, and local program
statistics has been the census of governments. To bridge gaps, especially
for early years of the series, and to augment fragmentary data, the U.S.
Social Security Administration has estimated expenditures for certain years
for some programs (e.g., state and local public employee retirement benefits
and administration). The series are often revised in response to new data,
new benchmarks, and changes in reporting from other sources. The U.S.
Social Security Administration often publishes the revised versions of the
recent data but in many cases offers revised information for earlier years
for years ending in 0 and 5. Discussions with the people at the U.S. Social
Security Administration who compile the statistics suggest that a search for
“the” number in any single year would be futile. The numbers are basically
estimates from surveys, reports of other agencies, and other sources, and they
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