Southern States Participate Most in Social Welfare Programs

A previous Data in the News postfocused on the rising participation rate in means-tested assistance programs, and an interactive map on The New York Times website this week displayed the geographic distribution of government benefits.  Welfare programs accounted for 17.6% of personal income in 2009, the highest in history.  In 1929, total entitlements accounted for just 1% of Americans’ incomes, but with the expansion of Social Security, the initiation of Medicare and many other government programs, and the overall growth in entitlement spending, the share of income via welfare programs has risen substantially.  

And while all regions have experienced a greater flow of government benefits to their residents, states in the South and in the western portion of the Sun Belt have seen their dependence on government welfare programs rise the most.  States such as Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky, Arizona, New Mexico and Tennessee possess many counties with a high level of dependence on government benefits; some counties have a level of transfer income per capita of over $10,000.

Coal Consumption Falling Fast

Louisa, Kentucky relied on coal to power not just its homes, but also to sustain its residents' livelihoods.  Today, though, Eric Lipton of the New York Times reports that many coal towns like Louisa may abandon coal in favor of natural gas.  The black, sooty rock has been the subject of costly new pollution laws and environmentalists' scorn, not to mention the surge in natural gas production (spurred on by fracking, a new and effective extraction method) that has drastically depressed gas prices.  Michael G. Morris, the Chairman of American Electric Power, is looking to switch production from coal to natural gas, and his decision does not appear to be isolated.  In 2008, coal consumption stood at well over 1,000 million short tons, but by 2013, the U.S. Energy Information Administration projects just 800 million short tons in consumption per year.  Additionally, while coal consisted of 53% of electricity generation by fuel in 1990, the projections for 2013 put that share at just 39%.