Food Stamps and the Economic Downturn

I'm not a huge fan of "the rolls are rising" stories, but today's NYT story on food stamps by Erik Eckholm isn't too bad:

Driven by a painful mix of layoffs and rising food and fuel prices, the number of Americans receiving food stamps is projected to reach 28 million in the coming year, the highest level since the aid program began in the 1960s.

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... recent rises in many states appear to be resulting mainly from the economic slowdown, officials and experts say, as well as inflation in prices of basic goods that leave more families feeling pinched.

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“People sign up for food stamps when they lose their jobs, or their wages go down because their hours are cut,” said Stacy Dean, director of food stamp policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in Washington, who noted that 14 states saw their rolls reach record numbers by last December.

Although the story places too much emphasis on rise in the absolute number of people receiving food stamps by confusingly characterizing the current number as a "record"—it isn't until a few paragraphs down that you learn that the percentage of Americans receiving food stamps is still lower in percentage terms than in the 1990s recession—it does a good job of noting the economic factors, inflation, unemployment, and low wages, that are responsible for the rise.

It shouldn't really be news that more workers are receiving help from the food stamp program as the economy turns down—the program, after all, is a form of social insurance that protects workers against earnings drops. But it isn't always the case that programs like food stamps do what they're supposed to do when more workers need help. In the last recession, Temporary Assistance—essentially unemployment insurance for low-wage workers with kids—actually helped fewer workers than it did before the recession, and a repeat performance appears likely.