Calworks Income Limits 2019 for Family of 4

Estimating the CalWORKs Accept-Up Rate

---

This is the showtime in a series of several posts estimating the percentage of California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs)-eligible individuals who actually enroll in the program—otherwise known as the CalWORKs take-upwards rate. In this mail service, we innovate our methodology for estimating the number of families eligible for CalWORKs since 2005 and compare this to the number who actually enrolled. In future posts, we volition program to discuss how this take-upward charge per unit varies between different regions in the state, besides as possible reasons why it varies regionally and has inverse over time.

Groundwork

CalWORKs Provides Cash Assistance and Employment Services to Low-Income Families. To qualify for CalWORKs, families must include ane or more children who are either citizens or lawful permanent residents and more often than not must fall below certain income requirements specified in state law (roughly equal to about eighty percentage of the federal poverty level [FPL] for nearly families, although this varies somewhat by family size and region of the state). In 2019‑20, a family of three could earn upwards to $ane,453 per month and still authorize for CalWORKs aid. That year, about 385,000 families (containing near 950,000 individuals) received CalWORKs aid. The bullets below summarize other benefit and plan participation rules.

• Greenbacks Assist. Since 2011, adults mostly have been limited to no more than than 48 cumulative months of receiving cash assist, although this limit is set to return to its original sixty months in May 2022. Even after adults take timed out, families tin continue to receive greenbacks assist on behalf of any eligible children. In 2019‑20, the average monthly grant for CalWORKs families was $585.

• Employment Services. Once enrolled, adult recipients generally are required either to work or engage in approved work-related activities such every bit searching for a task, although some developed recipients are exempt from these requirements (for example, some pregnant women). In 2019‑20, about 150,000 participating families (twoscore percent of the total) received employment services such as career assessments, adult didactics, and help with their chore search.

• Kid Care. Families that participate in CalWORKs are eligible for subsidized child intendance until their children turn 12. In 2019‑20, a petty over 150,000 children received CalWORKs child care.

Most CalWORKs Recipients Are Children. In 2018, there were virtually one.5 million California children living beneath the FPL, and about half of these children were enrolled in CalWORKs. In fact, most CalWORKs recipients (a little over eighty percent) are children, and most CalWORKs families (about 55 percent) include no adult recipients (meaning parents are excluded from aid due to their clearing status, lifetime benefit limits, or for other reasons).

CalWORKs Benefits Generally Subtract as Family Income Increases. CalWORKs grants vary based on region, family size, and family income. Families living in high-cost coastal counties such as Los Angeles and San Francisco receive grants that are about 5.5 percentage larger than similar families living in inland counties such as Fresno and Shasta. Grant sizes increment equally family unit size increases, and grant sizes decrease as family unit income increases. Families may earn non-CalWORKs income of up to $500 a month without affecting their grant, but for each additional dollar they earn above $500 their grant is reduced by 50 cents. In 2019‑20. the maximum family grant for a family unit of iii was $785.

Each Year, Income Eligibility for CalWORKs Automatically Increases. Under electric current state law, the income eligibility threshold for CalWORKs (also known as the Minimum Bones Standards for Adequate Care, or MBSAC) increases each year in proportion to the California Necessities Alphabetize (a measure of price inflation for basic goods such every bit food and clothing). Betwixt 2005 and 2019, MBSAC for a family of three increased by over l percentage (from $953 to $i,453), or from almost 60 percent to near lxxx pct of the FPL. Finer, the increase in the income eligibility threshold over the years means the CalWORKs eligible population has besides grown over time.

Grant Amounts Do Not Automatically Increase. Dissimilar MBSAC levels, grant amounts do not automatically increase in proportion to the cost of living just rather generally must exist adjusted by new legislation. As a result, the purchasing ability of the grants—that is, how much families can buy—decreases over time absent legislative action. Moreover, equally function of the upkeep solutions adopted during the Neat Recession, CalWORKs grant levels were reduced by outset four percent and then 8 percentage in 2011 and remained beneath their pre-recession meridian until 2019.

Non All Eligible Families Enroll in CalWORKs. CalWORKs is an entitlement programme, meaning all families that qualify for the plan tin receive help. Those who authorize, however, are not automatically enrolled. Rather, families must get through the process of learning about the program, applying, and beingness approved. The land does non track how many families are eligible for CalWORKs but not enrolled.

Understanding CalWORKs Take-Up Rate May Inform Hereafter Policy Choices. As noted above, most CalWORKs recipients are children, but many children living below the FPL are not currently enrolled in the programme. Consequently, increasing the CalWORKs take-upward charge per unit—and ultimately gaining a better understanding of why eligible individuals do non use—could be used to inform policy choices that result in increased participation in the program and reduced poverty for families with children.

Understanding CalWORKs Accept-Up Rate May Improve Caseload Forecasting. Since the onset of the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), CalWORKs caseload has proven especially difficult to forecast. Every bit discussed in our contempo Outlook post, both the assistants and our office overestimated the extent to which caseload would grow post-obit the pandemic and subsequent economic recession. These overestimates were built on observations from previous recessions (for example, the relationship between the unemployment charge per unit and CalWORKs cases added), but such relationships do non always concord in new economic climates. Better information about the factors that influence families' enrollment in CalWORKs likely could effect in models that more than accurately predict program caseloads.

Improving CalWORKs Take-Upwardly Rate Could Mitigate Ongoing Economic Consequences of COVID-19. As nosotros discuss below, the full number of CalWORKs-eligible families remained elevated for years post-obit each previous recession. Should this design proceed, tens of thousands of California families may remain impoverished for years due in large part to the COVID-nineteen recession. Increasing the CalWORKs take-up rate would allow the state to provide important aid to these families in the years ahead.

State Has Fabricated Efforts to Improve Take-Up Rates in Similar Programs. Compared to other states, California historically signed upwardly a relatively small-scale share of families eligible for the Supplemental Diet Aid Program (a federal program that helps low-income individuals purchase groceries, known locally as CalFresh). Starting in 2009, the land enacted a serial of policy changes (rebranding the program, eliminating nugget requirements, promoting online and phone applications, and reducing the amount of paperwork necessary to remain enrolled in the program) which increased the measured participation rate from 51 pct to 71 percentage between 2010 and 2018. More recently, the state allocated $two million in 2016‑17 and 2017‑xviii to improve sensation and take-upwardly of the California Earned Income Taxation Credit (EITC), which provides money to low-income workers.

To Date, No Formal Endeavour to Estimate CalWORKs Accept-Upward Rate. Unlike CalFresh, the federal authorities does non require the state to formally guess the CalWORKs have-upwards rate. Consequently, such estimates are not readily available. (Although we are aware of related efforts by the Urban Institute and Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, neither of these efforts are directly comparable to the annually reported CalFresh accept-up rate.) The rest of this mail service outlines how our function developed county-by-county estimates for CalWORKs take-up rates.

Methodology

Take-Up Rate is Equal to the Number of Families Enrolled Divided by Our Estimate of Families Eligible. Publicly available data requite a clear count of the number of families enrolled in CalWORKs. Nosotros do not know, only can estimate, the number of families who are eligible but exercise not enroll.

For Families With Children, CalWORKs Eligibility Primarily Determined by Income and Immigration Status. To be eligible for CalWORKs, families must include at least one child and mostly must earn less than lxxx pct of the FPL (the exact income eligibility threshold varies by family size and from yr to year and is set by state law). Children must also be either citizens or lawful permanent residents. Adults in the family can receive assistance if they (1) are lawful U.Southward. residents, (ii) do not receive Supplemental Security Income, and (3) have not exceeded state and federal lifetime assistance limits. Families also by and large are accounted ineligible if they own more $10,000 in property (other than their primary residence), have $ten,000 in their banking company accounts, or if they own more than than $25,000 in automobiles (in practise, few families are denied aid because of these asset limits).

American Customs Survey (ACS) Includes Most of the Information Needed to Judge Eligibility. The ACS is an annual survey of more than than two million households that is conducted by the federal Census Agency. It measures numerous household and private characteristics and includes near of the data necessary to estimate CalWORKs eligibility statewide. Data from the ACS currently are available for every year betwixt 2005 and 2019.

Estimating Eligibility Requires Making a Few Simplifying Assumptions. The ACS contains virtually, but not all, of the information necessary to estimate CalWORKs eligibility. Consequently, we must make several simplifying assumptions to approximate the number of CalWORKs-eligible families. The nearby box lists these assumptions, besides as their likely bear upon on our estimates. In talking with program experts, our best guess is that the errors introduced by these assumptions roughly abolish each other out, such that a more detailed estimate (one which corrected for all of these simplifying assumptions) would be roughly equal our estimates.

Simplifying Assumptions and Their Impact on LAO'due south Estimate of CalWORKs Have-upwardly Rates

Beneath, nosotros draw our simplifying assumptions. We make these assumptions to recoup for information non included in the American Community Survey (ACS). If nosotros could right for any of the following assumptions, nosotros look our estimated take-upward rate would increment or decrease past less than one pct bespeak.

• Monthly Income. We assume monthly income is equal to annual income divided by 12. The ACS reports only annual income, whereas California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) eligibility is determined based on monthly income. This distinction is non important for those with regular hours throughout the twelvemonth. However, CalWORKs-eligible families are unduly likely to accept irregular hours or seasonal employment, which could issue in some months with income far below and far above the families' annual average. Correcting this assumption likely would cause our estimate of the take-up rate to decrease.

• Eligibility Threshold. We assume income eligibility thresholds are equal to those in issue on July ane of each calendar year. The ACS reports data for the calendar year, but income eligibility thresholds typically correspond to fiscal years (which start on July 1). In a typical year (in which income eligibility thresholds are increased on July ane), the eligibility threshold is lower from January through June than from July through December. Nosotros, however, have causeless the college eligibility threshold throughout each twelvemonth. Correcting this supposition would likely cause our gauge of the have-up rate to increment.

• Immigration Status. The ACS does not provide sufficient information on respondents' immigration status to determine whether they are eligible for CalWORKs. Consequently, nosotros randomly assign each noncitizen a 45 percent probability of being accounted ineligible for CalWORKs. (This consignment roughly is based on U.South. Department of Homeland Security estimates of the proportion of noncitizen Californians who have a legal versus nonlegal residency condition, the crucial distinction for CalWORKs eligibility.) Changing this assumption would have unknown effects on our approximate of the have-upward charge per unit.

• Unemployment Insurance (UI) Benefits. The ACS does not separately track UI benefits (which, as with wages, count every bit income when determining CalWORKs eligibility). To guess UI benefits for individuals who appear eligible for such benefits (those marked as "unemployed" in the ACS but who report having worked in the past 12 months and receiving "other income," which may include UI), we estimated that these benefits do not exceed the average UI benefits for a agenda twelvemonth in California (which nosotros define as the average weekly benefit in California times the average weeks receiving UI nationwide for each calendar yr). Correcting this assumption would take unknown effects on our estimate of the take-up rate.

• Pregnancy. Nosotros assume no Pregnant Women-Only (PWO) CalWORKs cases. CalWORKs allows meaning women to receive CalWORKs fifty-fifty if their only eligible child is unborn, but the ACS does non record whether female respondents are meaning. After, these PWO cases are entirely absent from our estimates. Correcting this assumption would likely cause our estimate of the take-upward charge per unit to subtract.

• Asset Limits. We exercise not disqualify families for CalWORKs eligibility due to their avails (like savings accounts). We disregarded these factors because the ACS does not have sufficient information on the value of family avails. Correcting this supposition would likely crusade our estimate of the accept-up rate to increase.

Initial Findings

CalWORKs Currently Serves Virtually threescore Percent of Eligible Families. We estimate that, in 2019, nearly 605,000 families were eligible for CalWORKs while about 365,000 were enrolled, for an estimated CalWORKs accept-upwardly rate of 60 percent.

CalWORKs Take-Up Charge per unit Has Fallen Since 2005. Effigy 1 illustrates how the CalWORKs accept-up charge per unit changed between 2005 and 2019. Figure 2 compares our estimate of the total eligible population (light and nighttime sections) to those enrolled in CalWORKs (night section only). Betwixt 2005 and 2008 (during the economical expansion which preceded the Great Recession), the take-up rate hovered around 70 percentage as both CalWORKs caseload and the number of CalWORKs-eligible families decreased yr over twelvemonth. After the Neat Recession, however, the take-up rate fell to around 65 percent as the CalWORKs caseload increased at a slower step than the increase in the number of CalWORKs-eligible families. In the years since, CalWORKs caseload has declined at a somewhat faster pace than the number of CalWORKs-eligible families, causing the take-up rate to fall to around sixty percent.

CalWORKs Eligibility Thresholds Take Risen More Rapidly Than Benefits. Effigy 3 compares the modify in the eligibility threshold to the change in grant levels over the last xv years. Since 2005, the CalWORKs income eligibility threshold has increased by more than l percent, making more families with relatively higher incomes eligible to enroll in the program. At the same time, CalWORKs benefits have increased past less than 5 per centum (note that neither the benefit nor eligibility threshold figures have been inflation-adjusted). Because families earning relatively higher incomes already receive relatively smaller benefits, they have less incentive to enroll than lower-income families. Considering benefit levels did not increase at the same pace as the eligibility threshold, these newly eligible families may accept seen petty do good to enroll in the program, potentially explaining the lower take-up rate to an extent. (For instance, a family unit of iii earning $one,400 a month would be newly eligible for CalWORKs in July 2019, but would only receive a monthly benefit of about $250.)

Future Posts Volition Explore Boosted Reasons for the Decline in Take-Upward Rates, Among Other Topics. In upcoming posts, we plan to examine whether and how the CalWORKs accept-upwards rate varies among different regions in the state and explore reasons for those differences. We also will endeavor to identify which types of families are most probable to enroll in CalWORKs when eligible.

Conclusion

Measuring the CalWORKs accept-up rate is an important footstep towards potentially improving participation in the plan. The state has recent experience in improving the have-up rate in similar programs, further helping those programs accomplish their intended policy goals. For CalWORKs in particular, an improved understanding of the take-upwards rate could improve caseload forecasting and assist the country mitigate the ongoing economic effects of COVID-19.

---

mcinnesfacter.blogspot.com

Source: https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4340

Share this post