New Social Program Participation During the Great Recession: The Case of SNAP

Objectives It is unknown if the explosion in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) usage during the Great Recession was due to an inflow of new participants or instead because former participants cycled back into the program. It is also unknown if the profiles of new and return participants differed on a set of core demographic characteristics, including race/ethnicity, gender, education, age, household configuration, and location. Methods I examine the complete adult SNAP participation histories for a nationally representative cross†section of 7,680 individuals at the end of the Great Recession. Data are from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics with observations spanning the period 1968–2010. Results A large number of adult SNAP participants used the program for the first time during the Great Recession. New participants were not solely young adults and often originated from groups not typically associated with social program participation, such as: whites, suburbanites, and the highly educated. Repeat participants had varying program histories prior to the recession. Some spent a substantial portion of adulthood receiving program benefits while most others were only sporadic participants. Conclusions The findings demonstrate that SNAP was very successful in reaching the many new types of people who were exposed to the risk of poverty as a result of the economic downturn.