Welfare Rolls Decline Even as Poverty Increases

New York, NY —

The city says the number of people on welfare continues to decline. As of March more than 402,000 people had public assistance cases - that's the lowest the welfare rolls have been since 1964.

Ten years ago, public assistance cases peaked at over a million. The city says 75 percent of former welfare recipients stayed employed 6 months after they stopped receiving public assistance. But census numbers recently showed that poverty rose slightly in the city.

Some advocates for the poor say instead of receiving welfare poor new Yorkers are relying on assistance from places like food pantries and soup kitchens.