effects-of-minimum-wages-on-snap

SNAP imposes an employment or work-training requirement for able-bodied
prime-age adults—those between the ages <strong>of</strong> 18 and 50 and without disabilities
or dependent children. Such households can receive only three months <strong>of</strong> benefits
in a three-year period. In recent years, about 85 percent <strong>of</strong> households receiving
benefits have incomes below the federal poverty level; 49 percent have dependent
children; 16 percent are age 60 or older; 20 percent are disabled; and 30 percent
report some earned income. 21
A 2012 CBO report also notes that take-up rates among eligible SNAP recipients
average about 70 percent, with much lower take-up among elderly households.
The take-up rate increases in harder economic times. It also increased when stigma
issues were reduced as SNAP debit cards replaced actual food stamps. Take-up
is especially high among those most needy. Administrative spending equaled 91
percent <strong>of</strong> the potential spending that would have occurred if all eligible recipients
were enrolled. Although some SNAP policy changes have occurred since 1990,
most were relatively minor and all were national in scope. The 1996 welfare reform
bill eliminated SNAP eligibility for some legal immigrants, limited the time length
<strong>of</strong> eligibility for able-bodied childless adults, and reduced maximum benefits.
Some <strong>of</strong> these restrictions were relaxed in 2002 and again in the American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act in 2009. 22
Background | www.americanprogress.org 7