Abstract
Abstract Between 2010 and 2017, 42 U.S. states added work requirements as a food assistance eligibility criterion for Able-Bodied Adults Without Dependents (ABAWDs). Another U.S. public assistance program, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), provides food assistance without a work requirement, along with cash transfers and health insurance. Therefore, individuals for whom working is difficult may be induced to opt out of the labor force and into SSI in order to maintain access to food assistance. This study is the first to examine whether work requirements associated with food assistance eligibility lead to an increase in SSI applications and receipts. Based on difference-in-differences and event study analyses of comprehensive administrative claims data from the Social Security Administration and survey data from the Current Population Survey, this study finds evidence of lagged effects on SSI applications overall, and reduced Supplementary Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) receipts followed by a delayed smaller increase in SSI receipts among individuals with self-reported disabilities. While most SSI applications induced by SNAP-related work requirements appear to be unsuccessful, a small, vulnerable population may move out of the workforce and into SSI in response to the implementation of work requirements.
Highlights
Welfare recipiency can disincentivize some individuals from entering or returning to the workforce
This study looks at the intersection of two large federal programs: the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), run through the U.S Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), and Supplemental Security Income (SSI), which is administered by the Social Security Administration (SSA)
Survey data indicate no overall changes in the rates of SNAP or SSI recipiency following the implementation of work requirements, but among those with self-reported disabilities, SNAP receipt appears to drop substantially following the implementation of work requirements, potentially leading to a delayed increase on SSI receipt in subsequent years
Summary
Welfare recipiency can disincentivize some individuals from entering or returning to the workforce. Public food assistance eligibility in the United States is contingent upon individuals meeting employment-related requirements, such as participating in job training programs or working or volunteering for a minimum number of hours. This paper tests whether increased stringency in work requirements for food assistance eligibility led to increases in applications for and receipt of disability-related public assistance targeted at low-income individuals. Because SSDI requires sufficient work history for eligibility, SSI is more likely to be impacted by individuals for whom obtaining employment is difficult, and is the focus of the current study.. This study documents small and insignificant overall spillover effects from SNAP-related work requirements on SSI receipt, but larger, more significant effects among a affected subgroup, which may help explain the mixed results on substitution across welfare programs found in empirical work. Understanding whether SNAP work requirements shift claimants to SSI disability benefits and which recipients are most likely to be affected is of policy relevance from a government expenditure standpoint, given the much more extensive benefits afforded under SSI
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