In Pennsylvania, 46 percent of those families were working the minimum number of hours, state officials said yesterday.
In New Jersey, the figure was 49 percent.
If they do not meet the 75-percent threshold, the states could lose millions of dollars in federal funding for welfare-to-work programs. But President Clinton has suggested the government will not impose penalties on states that are making good-faith efforts and showing progress.
Pennsylvania welfare officials said the state was behind in part because it did not enact state-level welfare-overhaul measures until March, while other states began new programs a year ago.
Mary Ellen Fritz, communications director for the state Department of Public Welfare, said the state has fared well by another statistical measure - the number of two-parent families who have left the welfare rolls in the last year.
The number of such families on welfare has dropped 54 percent, from 7,285 to 3,334, she said.
``I think we've done more than anyone could expect,'' Fritz said. ``We can't just look at it as meeting [the] 75 percent [target].''
New Jersey welfare officials also sought to downplay the significance of falling short of the federal goal.
The number of two-parent households in New Jersey that are meeting the work requirement has risen from 4 percent in April, to 16 percent at the end of June, to 49 percent at the end of August, state officials said. Figures for September were not available.
``I think we've made good progress, and we're confident we're going to continue to make good progress,'' said Jacqueline Tencza, spokeswoman for the New Jersey Department of Human Services.
