SNAP restrictions increase inequality.

SNAP (formerly known as the Food Stamp Program) helps millions of Americans put food on the table each month. While two-thirds of participants are children, elderly, and people with disabilities, who are not expected to work, SNAP also helps workers, both to supplement low wages and support them when they are between jobs.

SNAP helps workers, both to supplement low wages and support them when they are between jobs.

Millions of workers are in jobs that provide low pay, can have shifting schedules, and often lack key benefits such as paid sick leave. These features can contribute to income volatility and job turnover: low-wage workers, including many who participate in SNAP, are more likely than other workers to experience periods when they are out of work or when their monthly earnings drop, at least temporarily. These dynamics lead many adults to participate in SNAP temporarily, often while between jobs or when their work hours are cut. Others, such as workers with steady, but low-paying, jobs, or those unable to work, participate on a longer-term basis. SNAP’s dual function as both a short-term support to help families afford food during a temporary period of low income and a support for others with longer-term needs is one of its principal strengths.

The backdrop of frequent job turnover among low-income workers can make it difficult to assess and quantify the work experiences of SNAP recipients. Looking at work status among SNAP participants at a given point in time substantially overstates their joblessness, the evidence makes clear, as large numbers of participants receive SNAP for short-term periods and work both before and after their stay on SNAP (or work in some months while on SNAP but are underemployed in other months). When data on SNAP participants’ work patterns and low-wage workers’ participation in SNAP are examined over a period of several years, as this analysis does, it becomes clear that workers earning low wages are frequently in and out of work and on and off SNAP as their earnings fall and rise. Most low-income, non-disabled adults work, but often with interruptions, and they are more likely to participate in SNAP when they are not working. For the small share of participants who are unable to work or face barriers to work, SNAP is a crucial support that helps them buy groceries.

Terms and Concepts Used in This Report

Non-disabled adults: This report looks at individuals who participate in SNAP, are aged 18-59, and are not receiving disability benefits.a These individuals include both those living with children and those in childless households. Government disability benefits, such as Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), have stringent criteria that limit benefits to individuals with serious long-lasting disabilities. As a result, many individuals with impairments and health conditions do not receive disability benefits, and those who apply for such benefits can face a lengthy application and appeals process. While this paper uses the phrase “non-disabled” to describe individuals not receiving disability benefits, many of these individuals have impairments that limit their ability to work or to perform other everyday tasks.

Work among SNAP participants over time: This report uses two main methods to analyze the patterns of SNAP participation and work among non-disabled adults over time using data from the Census Bureau’s Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP).

“Within a year of a point in time”: This analysis looks at participants who were receiving SNAP in a specific month in mid-2012, and then observes their work the year before and after that month (without regard to whether they participated in SNAP in the other months). Comparing work among participants in a given month when participating in SNAP to work among those individuals over a longer period of time demonstrates that work is under-counted if one looks only at work in a specific month among the adults participating in SNAP in that month.

“Ever over the period”: This analysis looks at the group of non-disabled adults who received SNAP at any point in a roughly 3.5-year period from mid-2009 through mid-2013.b This allows us to better capture the patterns of work and SNAP participation over a longer period, including times when individuals are not participating in SNAP.

The SIPP is based on self-reported data, including SNAP participation and work status. This and other factors result in some limitations in identifying SNAP participants, and some differences in identifying work status through the SIPP as compared to identifying it through the SNAP administrative data. For a discussion of these limitations and differences, more detailed descriptions of the above terms and concepts, and other methodological notes, please see the Appendix.

a Under SNAP definitions an individual is considered “elderly” beginning at age 60 and is considered “disabled” if he or she receives certain disability benefits.

b The time window for the analysis includes 44 months, but we include only the months when an individual who participated in the survey was aged between 18 and 59 and was not receiving disability benefits. Because some individuals did not meet these conditions for all 44 months, on average the analysis covers about 39 months, which we refer to as roughly 3.5 years.

Our analysis of employment and SNAP participation trends among working-age adults who are not receiving disability benefits finds:

Nearly three-quarters of adults who participate in SNAP in a typical month work either that month or within a year of that month of participation. Over half of individuals who were participating in SNAP in a typical month in mid-2012 were working in that month. Furthermore, 74 percent worked in the year before or after that month (in the 25-month period). Rates were even higher when work among other household members is counted: 81 percent of SNAP households with a non-disabled adult, and 87 percent of households with children and a non-disabled adult, included at least one member who worked in this 25-month period.

SNAP participants often experience periods of joblessness and are more likely to participate in SNAP when they are out of work. Individuals who participated in SNAP at any point over a 3.5-year period from 2009 through 2013 worked most months over this period, but were more likely to participate when they were out of work. They participated in SNAP in over two-fifths of the months that they were working (44 percent). They participated in SNAP in 62 percent of the months in which they were not working, a time when their income was lower and their need for help affording food was higher.

SNAP participation among non-disabled adults is often short term, but those who receive SNAP for longer periods still work most of the time. Nearly two-thirds (64 percent) of the adults who participated in SNAP at some point over the roughly 3.5-year period that this part of our analysis examined received it for a total of less than two years. Regardless of how long these adults participated in SNAP, however, they worked in the majority of months in which they received SNAP assistance. Over one-third of non-disabled adults worked in every month they participated in SNAP.

SNAP participants who are consistently out of work often face barriers to work or have caretaking responsibilities. About one-quarter of adults who participated in SNAP in a given month in 2012 did not work within a year. Of those adults, most cited caretaking responsibilities or health conditions as the reasons they were not working. These adults were also more likely to lack a high school degree or to report a work-limiting health condition than those who worked. (While this analysis is limited to adults who do not receive disability benefits, many individuals with significant impairments and other health conditions that limit their ability to work do not receive such benefits.)

Existing policy already limits SNAP participation for childless adults who are not employed at least half-time to just three months out of every three years, and imposes other work requirements, for which failure to comply can result in sanctions. Policies that would further limit SNAP for jobless participants would, sooner or later, harm many individuals who currently are working as well as poor adults who are looking for work, and those who face significant obstacles to employment. For individuals who earn persistently low wages, putting up additional barriers to receiving SNAP will not improve their labor market prospects or increase mobility. For those who are out of work for longer periods of time, many of whom face serious barriers to employment or are unable to work because they lack access to supports such as affordable child care, helping them increase their ability to work in a meaningful way would require an investment in resources, rather than a denial of basic food assistance.

Results from other programs show that work requirements rarely lead to significant increases in meaningful employment, and often result in increased poverty for those who lose benefits without increasing earnings. The most successful interventions offer intensive assessment and training and supportive services, which are extremely expensive, and are provided for voluntary participants. Congress provided funding in 2014 for ten comprehensive SNAP employment and training demonstration projects to test whether new, innovative approaches would help boost employment and earnings. Policymakers should wait to learn the results from these demonstrations before instituting policies that research indicates are unlikely to significantly increase work.