Section 5.8.3.1

5.8.3.1 - Main Source of Household Income for the Previous Month

Clients were asked to indicate the major source of their household income for the previous month. Then, they were asked to name all sources of their household income. Tables 5.8.3.1 and 5.8.3.2 summarize the findings.

Table 5.8.3.1

MAIN SOURCE OF HOUSEHOLD INCOME FOR THE PREVIOUS MONTH

	Pantry Client Households	Kitchen Client Households	Shelter Client Households	All Client Households
Job	30.8%	32.3%	32.7%	31.1%
Government Welfare Assistance
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)	2.5%	2.2%	1.7%	2.4%
General Assistance (GA)	3.3%	3.3%	5.7%	3.4%
SUBTOTAL	5.7%	5.5%	7.4%	5.8%
Other Government Sources
Social Security	23.8%	15.0%	9.1%	21.9%
Unemployment compensation	1.7%	1.1%	2.3%	1.7%
Disability (SSDI)/Workers' Compensation	7.0%	7.1%	5.1%	6.9%
Supplemental Security Income (SSI)	10.3%	10.8%	3.7%	10.1%
SUBTOTAL	42.8%	34.1%	20.1%	40.5%
Nongovernment, Nonjob Sources
Pension	2.9%	2.4%	0.6%	2.7%
Child support	1.2%	0.0%	0.6%	1.0%
Churches	0.2%	0.4%	0.0%	0.2%
Alimony	0.2%	0.0%	0.1%	0.1%
Relatives	1.6%	0.9%	1.4%	1.5%
SUBTOTAL	6.1%	3.8%	2.6%	5.6%
Other	2.7%	5.7%	3.0%	3.1%
No Income	5.1%	12.1%	28.7%	7.3%
Unknown	6.6%	6.7%	5.4%	6.6%
TOTAL	100%	100%	100%	100%
SAMPLE SIZE (N)	24,436	5,441	2,882	32,759

Overall, 31.1% of the clients indicated that a job was the main source of income for their households for the previous month. Other sources of income are as follows:

For 5.8% of all clients, welfare assistance from the government such as TANF and GA was the main source of their household income.
For 40.5% of all clients, other government assistance such as social security or unemployment compensation was the main source of their household income.
5.6% of all clients had their main source of income from nongovernment, nonjob sources, including pension, child support, etc.

Source
This table was constructed based on all responses to Questions 29 and 29b of the client survey.

Notes
The percentages presented in this table, unlike those in most other tables, were calculated without leaving out item nonresponses (labeled "unknown"). To ensure that key percentages, such as that for no income, appear consistent within this table and across related tables, a constant denominator, which includes item nonresponses, was used. All responses were weighted as described in Chapter 3 and in the Technical Appendix volume to represent all emergency food clients or households of the A2H network.

Missing, don't know, and refusal responses combined are 6.6% for pantry clients, 6.7% for kitchen clients, 5.4% for shelter clients, and 6.6% for all clients.