HARRISBURG — The number of people receiving welfare benefits in Pennsylvania has declined to a level not seen since the early 1960s as more recipients have moved into the work force, the state's top public welfare official said Monday.

The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program currently provides cash assistance to 217,562 people, Public Welfare Secretary Estelle Richman said. About 70 percent are children and nearly 14,000 are disabled adults.

During the 1960-61 fiscal year, the number of people receiving temporary assistance averaged 219,237 a month, department spokeswoman Stacey Witalec said. More than 265,000 received assistance in October 2005.

Richman attributed the decline in recent years to changes since 2003 that have improved the department's ability to help recipients develop job skills, match them with jobs and give them access to child care, among other things.

"Our county assistance office staff and employment and training partners have been working tirelessly with families to provide the support they need to help them move from the welfare rolls into permanent employment," Richman said in a statement. "As a result ... more hardworking parents are achieving independence every day."

As of July, the state had 12,737 recipients in jobs or training programs — roughly a 52 percent participation rate, Richman said.

But the House Republican Policy Committee has raised questions about the Rendell administration's compliance with federal welfare-to-work requirements.

The committee's chairman, Rep. Mike Turzai, R-Allegheny, said Monday he had not seen the latest statistics and could not comment on them. Turzai said his committee plans to question Richman about the department's management of welfare-to-work and other programs at a hearing this fall.

Under a federal law that took effect in October, states are required to place into job training, community service or other work activities 50 percent of their households that get welfare aid.

States failing to meet the federal threshold could risk losing federal welfare block grant money, but the earliest those penalties could begin is 2009.

July marked the fourth consecutive month that Pennsylvania's work participation rate exceeded 50 percent, Richman said.