Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

Recently, the U.S. political system has seen a groundswell in rhetoric regarding work requirements for recipients of social safety net programs. This has been characterized both by moves to revive work requirements that were introduced by the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA), and to introduce new work requirements all together. One such work requirement stemming from PRWORA applies to beneficiaries of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Eligible recipients who are “able-bodied adults without dependents” (“ABAWDs”) are subject to a three-month limitation on SNAP receipt within a 36-month period, unless they meet specific employment or training requirements. However, work requirements for ABAWDs can be temporarily waived in geographic areas where unemployment is high or where there is a lack of available jobs.

Because of the systematically high unemployment rates that followed the Great Recession, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) offered all states the ability to suspend ABAWD work requirements without having to seek federal approval as of April 1, 2009. Most states followed suit for several years. Some states have since begun to reinstate work requirements in some or all counties, at a staggered pace. The combination of ARRA’s blanket action to suspend work requirements, the varied timing of work requirement reinstatement within and across states, and lingering waivers in other states to date provide the opportunity to study the consequences of imposing work requirements upon ABAWDs. Previous research has yielded mixed results when examining the effects of ABAWD work requirements on SNAP participation and employment-related outcomes (Cuffey, Mykerezi, and Beatty, 2015; Wilde, Cook, Gundersen, Nord, and Tiehen (2000); Ziliak, Gundersen, and Figlio, 2003).

Through their influence on SNAP participation, work requirements may also be consequential for SNAP recipients’ household food insecurity status. Using a difference-in-difference strategy to analyze Current Population Survey data and county-level ABAWD policy data, this study will evaluate the effect of work requirements on the presence and depth of household food insecurity of ABAWD households.