California will spend approximately 45.71 billion during the fiscal year 2011. 1. The percentage of residents on welfare in the Golden State is now more than triple that of the rest of the U.S. If it reflected the rest of the country, California would have 800,000 fewer people receiving welfare. 2. While caseloads in the rest of the U.S. have dropped over 30% in the past five years, Californias has gone up about 6%. 3. As a result, though it has only about 12% of the total U.S. population, Californias share of the welfare caseload has risen from 22% in 2002 to over 30%. 4. There are more welfare recipients per family in California, and that number has crept upward in the past couple of years, perhaps indicating that California welfare mothers are bearing more children that those in the rest of the U.S. Estimates put about 25% of this welfare goes to illegal immigrants. Sources: http://pjmedia.com/blog/california-draggin-golden-states-economy-hurts-america/ http://www.statemaster.com/graph/peo_per_of_peo_who_are_for_bor-people-percent-who-foreign-born http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2009/07/a-third-of-welfare-recipients-in-california.html http://www.statemaster.com/graph/eco_wel_cas_tot_rec-economy-welfare-caseloads-total-recipients http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/brief.html http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ofa/data-reports/caseload/2008/2008_recipient_tan.htm
