ABSTRACT
This paper estimates the intra-pandemic effects of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participation on the risk of food insecurity over a period when the majority of SNAP beneficiaries received emergency allotments. Within-person estimations using longitudinal data from the 2019–2020 National Health Interview Survey reveal that, relative to income-eligible SNAP nonparticipants, the likelihood of food insecurity was 37% lower over August–December 2020 among SNAP participants. A heterogeneity analysis indicates that this was mainly driven by higher income SNAP participants who received larger SNAP benefits through movements from below the maximum benefit for their household size to the maximum. Indeed, compared to income-eligible SNAP nonparticipants, the risk of food insecurity was 78% (6%) lower over August–December 2020 among SNAP participants with above-median (below-median) family income to poverty ratios. Published 2023. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.
ABSTRACT
We estimate the impact of involuntary unemployment following employer shutdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic on American households' past-week food expenditures, free food receipt, and food sufficiency, as well as confidence about next month's food adequacy. Over April to June 2020, compared with households containing employed respondents, households with respondents who lost their jobs due to coronavirus-induced firm closures spent 15% less on food, were 36% more likely receive free food, were 10% less likely to have enough food to eat, and were 21% less likely to report at least moderate confidence in their future ability to afford needed foods.