Issues in Food Assistance-How Unemployment Affects the Food Stamp Program

by Kenneth Hanson and Craig Gundersen

This issues brief examines the link between unemployment and food stamps, with an emphasis on the potential magnitude of economic and policy changes on food stamp caseloads. We find that a 1-percentage-point increase in the unemployment rate leads to about 700,000 more food stamp recipients in the first year and in the longer run, this increase leads to 1.3 million more food stamp recipients.

Keywords: Food Stamp Program, unemployment rate, food assistance, recession

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