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INCWELFR
Public assistance income
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Description

For all persons, INCWELFR reports the total income they received from public assistance sources, such as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families or general assistance, during the current calendar year. Using the reported income information, annual income amounts were then edited and imputed for every record on the full-year file. Please refer to the IPUMS user note on Income Data in MEPS for more information on the collection, editing (including top- and bottom-coding), and imputation of income variables in MEPS, as well as changes to the target population for income data collection over time. Users may also be interested in the data quality flag, QINCWELF, which reports the editing methods used for INCWELFR.

If respondents needed more information about what types of income to report as public assistance income, they were provided with the additional guidance: "Public assistance payments include assistance payments made to low-income persons, such as temporary assistance for needy families (TANF), and general assistance." Respondents were given an additional definition of TANF: "This is a cash assistance program. TANF is known by different names in different states. Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) provides assistance and work opportunities to needy families."

Information on the IPUMS defined-universe for this variable[show more]

Users may wish to note that IPUMS defines the universe for this variable as all persons because of the family-style question associated with this income source. Family-style questions ask the family respondent if anyone in the family received income from this source. In addition to the opportunity to report public assistance income via the family-style question, all persons in the household were eligible to list additional income from "other" sources, which includes income from sources previously asked about in the survey.