Do work requirements help SNAP people out of government aid?
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 19: A worker stocks items during special hours open only to seniors and the disabled at Northgate Gonzalez Market, a Hispanic specialty supermarket, on March 19, 2020 in Los Angeles, California. The vast majority of the shelves in the market were fully stocked. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images) Mario Tama/Getty Images hide caption
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 19: A worker stocks items during special hours open only to seniors and the disabled at Northgate Gonzalez Market, a Hispanic specialty supermarket, on March 19, 2020 in Los Angeles, California. The vast majority of the shelves in the market were fully stocked. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
Mario Tama/Getty ImagesMany Americans getting government aid for food under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, will soon need to prove that they are working in order to keep their benefits. Advocates for work requirements say government aid creates dependency, while critics say those rules harm the most vulnerable recipients.
New economic research puts these two competing narratives to the test by studying the impact of work requirements on SNAP participants' employment and wages.
Music by Drop Electric. Find us: Twitter / Facebook / Newsletter.
Subscribe to our show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, PocketCasts and NPR One.
For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.