Employment Factors Influencing Food Stamp Program Participation: Final Report

By Signe-Mary McKernan and Caroline Ratcliffe. ERS project representative: Robert Gibbs

E-FAN No. (03-012) 57 pp, November 2003

This study examines how employment characteristics of low-income households influence Food Stamp Program (FSP) participation. The relationship between employment and FSP participation is of special interest because, although more low-income working families are eligible to participate, many do not. Low-income working households are less likely to participate in the FSP if they work traditional daytime hours, hold multiple jobs, and work more hours, but they are more likely to participate if they frequently change jobs. However, the relationship between employment and FSP participation was stronger in the early 1990s than in the late 1990s, suggesting that barriers to participation among working families decreased during the decade.

Keywords: food stamp program, FSP, low-income households, food assistance, program outcomes, Food Assistance and Nutrition Research Program, FANRP, ERS, USDA

In this report ...

Chapters are in Adobe Acrobat PDF format.

• Abstract, Contents, Acknowledgments, 357 kb
• Section I. Introduction, 84 kb
• Section II. Relevant Literature, 115 kb
• Section III. Conceptual Model, 102 kb
• Section IV. Empirical Model, 121 kb
• Section V. Data, 104 kb
• Section VI. Results, 143 kb
• Section VII. Conclusion, 72 kb
• Section VIII. References, 88 kb
• Figures, 579 kb
• Tables, 540 kb

• Entire Document, 1,672 kb

Updated date: November 19, 2003