IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/arx/papers/2609.19660.html

Screening Out the Needy: The Effects of SNAP Work Requirements

Author

Listed:
  • Lexin Cai
  • Hyewon Kim
  • Pauline Leung

Abstract

We examine the effectiveness of work requirements as a screening device in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Work requirements for "able-bodied adults without dependents" were suspended after the Great Recession and gradually reinstated across counties and states in the 2010s. Using linked administrative SNAP and employment data from five states and a triple-differences design, we find that work requirements reduce SNAP participation by seven percent without increasing labor supply and disproportionately screen out low-income individuals. We develop a welfare framework to interpret these results and find that the social costs of work requirements exceed budget savings.

Suggested Citation

  • Lexin Cai & Hyewon Kim & Pauline Leung, 2026. "Screening Out the Needy: The Effects of SNAP Work Requirements," Papers 2609.19660, arXiv.org, revised Sep 2026.
    • Handle: RePEc:arx:papers:2609.19660
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2609.19660
    File Function: Latest version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Clément de Chaisemartin & Xavier D'Haultfœuille, 2020. "Two-Way Fixed Effects Estimators with Heterogeneous Treatment Effects," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 110(9), pages 2964-2996, September.
    2. Colin Gray & Adam Leive & Elena Prager & Kelsey Pukelis & Mary Zaki, 2023. "Employed in a SNAP? The Impact of Work Requirements on Program Participation and Labor Supply," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 15(1), pages 306-341, February.
    3. Mark Shepard & Myles Wagner, 2025. "Do Ordeals Work for Selection Markets? Evidence from Health Insurance Auto-Enrollment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 115(3), pages 772-822, March.
    4. Pamela Herd & Donald Moynihan, 2025. "Administrative Burdens in the Social Safety Net," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 39(1), pages 129-150, Winter.
    5. Nathaniel Hendren & Ben Sprung-Keyser, 2020. "A Unified Welfare Analysis of Government Policies," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 135(3), pages 1209-1318.
    6. William C Boning & Nathaniel Hendren & Ben Sprung-Keyser & Ellen Stuart, 2025. "A Welfare Analysis of Tax Audits Across the Income Distribution," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 140(1), pages 63-112.
    7. Marcelo Ortiz-Villavicencio & Pedro H. C. Sant'Anna, 2025. "Better Understanding Triple Differences Estimators," Papers 2505.09942, arXiv.org, revised Jul 2025.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lexin Cai & Hyewon Kim & Pauline Leung, 2026. "Screening Out the Needy: the Effects of SNAP Work Requirements," Working Papers 26-46, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    2. Cook, Jason & East, Chloe N., 2026. "The disenrollment and labor market effects of SNAP work requirements on parents," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 257(C).
    3. Marianne Bitler & Jason Cook & Chloe N. East & Sonya R. Porter & Laura Tiehen, 2026. "The Intersection of Place and Need: How Lack of Enrollment Offices Deters Participation in the Safety Net," Tax Policy and the Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 40(1), pages 239-271.
    4. Bilicka, Katarzyna & Dubinina, Evgeniya & Janský, Petr, 2026. "Fiscal consequences of corporate tax avoidance," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 257(C).
    5. Wilson, Kaitlyn & Jones, Jordan W., 2026. "The Effects of Reinstating ABAWD Work Requirements Following National Suspensions on SNAP Participation and Employment," 2026 Annual Meeting, July 26 - 28, 2026, Kansas City, Missouri 404777, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    6. Montpetit, Sébastien & Beaureard, Pierre-Loup & Carrer, Luisa, 2024. "A welfare analysis of universal childcare: Lessons from a Canadian reform," CLEF Working Paper Series 73, Canadian Labour Economics Forum (CLEF), University of Waterloo.
    7. Ngoc Dao & Riley Wilson, 2026. "Alternative Insurance: Gig Work and Social Insurance Participation," CESifo Working Paper Series 12897, CESifo.
    8. Nora Bearth & Nadja van 't Hoff & Torben S. D. Johansen, 2026. "Group-Level Treatment Effect Heterogeneity in Difference-in-Differences: A Balanced Approach," Papers 2606.24785, arXiv.org.
    9. Barham, Tania & Cadena, Brian C. & Schechter, Lauren, 2025. "Supported Work Leads to Lasting Labor Market Success Among TANF Recipients," IZA Discussion Papers 18342, IZA Network @ LISER.
    10. Christiansen, Tobias Gabel, 2024. "Dynamic effects of tax audits and the role of intentions," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 234(C).
    11. Zecharias Anteneh, 2026. "Beyond Parallel Trends in Staggered Difference-in-Differences: Identification under Higher-Order Parallelism," Papers 2606.17977, arXiv.org, revised Jul 2026.
    12. Stith Sarah S., 2022. "Effects of work requirements for food assistance eligibility on disability claiming," IZA Journal of Labor Economics, Paradigm & Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 11(1), pages 1-31, January.
    13. Nicholas Lacoste & Zehra Farooq, 2026. "Optimal Audit Targeting with Machine Learning: Evidence from Pakistan," Working Papers 2603, Tulane University, Department of Economics.
    14. Bas Scheer & Wiljan van den Berge & Maarten Goos & Alan Manning & Anna Salomons, 2022. "Alternative Work Arrangements and Worker Outcomes: Evidence from Payrolling," CPB Discussion Paper 435, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    15. Ichev, Riste & Valentinčič, Aljoša, 2025. "The effect of impact investing on performance of private firms," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 73(PA).
    16. Mac Clay, Pablo & Börner, Jan & Sellare, Jorge, 2023. "Institutional and macroeconomic stability mediate the effect of auctions on renewable energy capacity," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    17. Katrin Huber & Geske Rolvering, 2023. "Public child care and mothers’ career trajectories," Working Papers 228, Bavarian Graduate Program in Economics (BGPE).
    18. Diegmann, André & Pohlan, Laura & Weber, Andrea, 2024. "Do Politicians Affect Firm Outcomes? Evidence from Connections to the German Federal Parliament," IZA Discussion Papers 17031, IZA Network @ LISER.
    19. Wei, Qingfang & Liu, Yuan & Cai, Weixing & Wan, Jiangtao, 2025. "Open government data and personal default: Evidence from China," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    20. Alex Hollingsworth & Krzysztof Karbownik & Melissa A. Thomasson & Anthony Wray, 2024. "The Gift of a Lifetime: The Hospital, Modern Medicine, and Mortality," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 114(7), pages 2201-2238, July.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:arx:papers:2609.19660. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: arXiv administrators (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://arxiv.org/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.