Welfare rolls at record lows despite economy

The World

The country’s economic situation has been pretty well reported. In such bleak times, with unemployment numbers reaching record highs in many states, you would expect to see an increase in the number of people seeking public assistance. But according to an investigation by our partners at the New York Times, 18 states cut their welfare rolls last year and nationally the number of people getting assistance is near a 40-year low. Jason DeParle, reporter in the Washington Bureau for the New York Times joins us for a peek at the results of their investigation.

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