Economic Upswing Has Fewer Americans Receiving Food Stamps
Critics of the food stamp program have been alarmed in recent years by its rapid growth. Last year, about 1 in 7 people in the U.S. received food stamps, or SNAP benefits, as they're called. That's almost 48 million people, a record high.
But the numbers have started to drop. In February, the last month for which figures were available, 1.6 million fewer people received food stamps than at the peak in December 2012, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which runs the program.
"It's really showing that the program is doing what it's designed to do," says Dorothy Rosenbaum, a senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a left-leaning think tank. "It expanded when the economy was weak and when unemployment was on the rise. And now, as the economy is improving, it's starting to decline."
She says that's just what her group and others predicted would happen as the economy improved. They expected there would be some delay as the benefits of the recovery began to be felt by more low-income Americans.
Rosenbaum says the trend is strong. Caseloads are falling in 47 states, and she anticipates that will continue as more and more people find work, and better-paying jobs.
"I was able to find a new job, where I was making more money with a few more hours," says Katje Hopkins, of Portland, Ore. She, her husband and their infant son started receiving food stamps last year after her hours at a luxury car dealership were cut to only eight a week.
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