Some people have a stereotype of what an average welfare recipient is. Many believe a welfare recipient is a young mother, a minority, has been on welfare all her life, has several children and those children will be on welfare all their lives. She has 1.7 children and she is white. She is experiencing welfare for the first time in her adult life. She will be on welfare an average spell of about 18 months, and the average total time is about two years and two months.
National statistics are similar to our state's statistics.
There is a very common phenomena that a family will be on welfare for a period of time, then the adult in the house will get a job for a period of months. It is usually a low-paying job with no benefits. Then, her child may get chicken pox, her car breaks down, or something will happen which makes her lose her job and she will be back on welfare, but for a shorter period of time. So in that sense, there is a certain amount of cycling in and out of the system. About 16 percent of welfare recipients are on welfare for five years or longer, so the majority is off within two years and most within five years.