The new face of food stamps: working-age Americans
For the first time ever the majority of food stamp recipients are working-age Americans, a change from children and the elderly in the most recent past. The shift indicates that the $80 billion-a-year program is unlikely to shrink or level-off on its own because now the majority of users are unlikely to go through major personal financial shifts which would make them ineligible for the program. The program covers 1 in 7 Americans and is fastest growing among those with some college. Historically, those who were of working age and had college training were likely to have quicker upward mobility, but with wages stagnating and dim job prospects, the program?s growth shows that the middle class is further away than in the recent past. The percent of households on food stamps headed by someone who is unemployed is about the same as it was in 1980, but the percent of households with either full-time or part-time workers have both been growing rapidly over the past couple decades.
See "The new face of food stamps: working-age Americans", Hope Yen, The Reporter, January 27, 2014