Joint Participation in Unemployment Insurance (UI) and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SANP): When UI Benefits End, Do SNAP Benefits Continue?

Background and Purpose: The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as Food Stamps, and Unemployment Insurance (UI) are two of the largest safety net programs, as well as the most responsive to the economic cycle. Since their target populations have been different, the overlap between UI and SNAP historically has been small. As the U.S. economy entered the deep recession in the 2008–2009 period, not only did the number of SNAP and UI participants dramatically increase, but joint participation in UI and SNAP also rose. A few studies to date have investigated the extent of joint participation, factors related to its growth, and the changing characteristics of joint participants before and after the recession; and these studies have suggested that a growing number of joint participants in the recent recession is more privileged in terms of education and income and more likely to access UI first. However, the extent to which joint participants continued to receive SNAP following UI exit, and whether the proportion with SNAP receipt after UI exit has changed in the recession period, have been understudied. This study addresses this knowledge gap with exploring whether the changing composition of the population of joint participants is associated with the trend in SNAP participation after UI exit.

Methods:  This study utilizes longitudinal data from a linked administrative data system in Wisconsin that includes monthly program participation information for the entire state population who received SNAP or UI from the last quarter of 2006 through 2012. I define joint participants as those who have received SNAP during a UI benefit spell, and investigate the extent of SNAP participation, employment, and other economic resources available right after UI exit. These are followed by a series of multivariate models that examine factors related to SNAP receipt following UI exit.

Results: This study finds that a substantial proportion of UI–SNAP joint participants continued to rely on SNAP after exit from UI in both the pre-recession and recession periods with low use of other public assistance benefits. The proportion of joint participants who had not participated in SNAP before the beginning of a UI spell have increased in the recent recession, and they are less likely to participate in SNAP when they exit from UI than those who participated in SNAP as a supplement to earnings prior to the UI spell. However, the likelihood of receiving SNAP after UI exit increased during the long economic downturn due to an increasing proportion of participants with long unemployment spells and lower earnings at UI exit.

Conclusions and Implications: The findings of this study suggest that although UI provided a substantial income support to the unemployed during the recession, a growing number of people used SNAP to supplement UI due to the long term of unemployment. In addition, the high persistence of SNAP receipt after UI exit implies a continued need for income support following UI exit, especially when the economy is weak and work does not guarantee self-sufficiency.