Final answer:
The enactment of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act led to a drop of approximately 62.5 percent in the number of families receiving welfare assistance nationwide, declining from 4.8 million to 1.8 million.
Step-by-step explanation:
After the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act was enacted, the number of families receiving assistance dropped significantly nationwide. This piece of legislation, signed into law in August 1996, restructured welfare by replacing Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) with Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF).
The act instituted work requirements and set time limits on welfare benefits. As a result, the number of families receiving payments went from 4.8 million in 1995, the last year under AFDC, to approximately 1.8 million by 2012 under TANF. This marked a decline of more than half, translating to a drop by approximately 62.5 percent nationwide.