PA Denies Welfare Benefits to Most Applicants

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that 75 percent of all welfare applicants in Pennsylvania are rejected, possibly because of a requirement — started in 2012 — that aid recipients apply for three jobs a week.

Beginning in July 2012, state law required applicants to apply to at least three jobs a week — including while their application for assistance is still pending, which can be several weeks. Previously, an applicant would be required to fulfill the program’s work requirement after being approved for assistance, rather than prior to approval.

The rate of rejections has steadily climbed since; prior to July 2012, monthly rejection rates for assistance applicants were consistently in the low 60 percent range.

State officials say they haven’t tracked — and so don’t know — if the job requirement is the reason for the super-high rejection rate. The paper adds: “As of February, the most recent figures available, 188,015 Pennsylvanians were receiving the assistance statewide.”