In 2001, the average weekly unemployment benefit was $193.68. Average monthly participation in the food stamp program in FY2002 comprised 46,165 persons (16,138 households). The average monthly benefit was $107.32, and the sum total of benefits paid in FY2002 was $59,454,787.
With the enactment of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, the US government has changed the form and regulations for many of its social welfare programs. Most significantly, it replaces Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), an open-ended entitlement program, with Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), a limited system of assistance funded largely through federal block grants. The reform act also impacts the food stamp program, the Supplemental Security Income program, and the child nutrition program. The law took effect on 1 July 1997 and provided $16.38 billion in block grants for fiscal years 1997–2002. The grants are to be divided among the states based on an equation involving the numbers of former AFDC recipients in each state.
Reauthorization of the 1996 social welfare legislation, scheduled for 2002, was delayed, and the original law had been extended three times as of July 2003, with the most recent extension running through September 2003. Alaska's TANF program is called the Alaska Temporary Assistance Program (ATAP). In June 2000 the state had 24,389 welfare recipients. State expenditures on the TANF program in FY2002 totaled $44,320,973.
In December 2001, Social Security benefits were paid to 56,940 Alaskans. This number included 32,750 retired workers, 4,970 widows and widowers, 7,860 disabled workers, 2,820 spouses, and 8,540 children. Social Security beneficiaries represented 8.9% of the total state population and 93.9% of the state's population age 65 and older. Retired workers (excluding persons with special benefits) received an average monthly payment of $848; widows and widowers, $759; disabled workers, $796; and spouses, $398. Payments for children of retired workers averaged $367 per month; children of deceased workers, $550; and children of disabled workers, $224.
Federal Supplemental Security Income payments in December 2001 went to 9,123 Alaska residents, averaging $359 a month.
In 1979, Alaska became the first state to withdraw its government workers from the Social Security system.