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Are Food Stamps Reaching Those in Need?
Contact: Cheryl Pedersen, (609) 275-2258
WASHINGTON, D.C. (December 12, 2008)—Sixty-seven percent of those eligible for the Food Stamp Program, now called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), received benefits in 2006, a two percentage point increase from 2005. The participation rate for the working poor—people who qualify for program benefits and live in households in which someone earns income from a job—was 57 percent. These data and more are the focus of a new policy brief from Mathematica Policy Research, Inc., that looks at state participation rates for 2006.
The brief includes state and regional breakdowns and comparisons of program participation rates. The findings show that Missouri, Maine, and Tennessee likely had higher participation rates for all eligible people than most states. In contrast, California likely had a lower rate than most states. Among regions, the Midwest Region had the highest participation rate at 74 percent, and the Western Region had the lowest at 58 percent.
In 34 states, the working poor participated in the program at a significantly lower rate than all eligible people, similar to the pattern nationally. In 8 of these states, the rate for the working poor was more than 10 percentage points lower than the rate for all eligible people.
SNAP is the largest of the domestic food and nutrition assistance programs administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service. During fiscal year 2008, the program served 28 million people in an average month at a total annual cost of over $34 billion in benefits. The program participation rate has been a widely used standard for assessing how well the program meets its goals. USDA aims to reach an overall participation rate of 68 percent of the eligible population nationally by 2010.
“Reaching Those in Need: State Food Stamp Participation Rates in 2006,” by Karen E. Cunnyngham, Laura A. Castner, and Allen L. Schirm is available at www.mathematica-mpr.com/publications/redirect_pubsdb.asp?strSite=pdfs/fns06rates.pdf. Call Publications at (609) 275-2350 for printed copies.
Mathematica, a nonpartisan research firm, conducts high-quality, objective policy research and surveys to improve public well-being. Its clients include federal and state governments, foundations, and private-sector and international organizations. The employee-owned company, with offices in Princeton, N.J., Washington, D.C., Cambridge, Mass., and Ann Arbor, Mich., has conducted some of the most important studies of health care, education, welfare, employment, nutrition, and early childhood policies and programs in the United States.