New Report Shows That Work Requirements for Safety Net Programs Fail to Boost Employment

As Republican policymakers push for work requirements for Medicaid recipients and consider stricter ones for food stamp recipients, a new EPI report surveys the available evidence and finds that work requirements do not meaningfully increase employment. Work requirements—and the burdensome paperwork that will need to be completed to apply for the benefits—do, however, shut out deserving families needing food assistance and health care.

Work requirements have largely failed to boost employment in significant ways because these requirements do not attack the core barriers to work, such as weak macroeconomic conditions, the volatile nature of low-wage employment, and caregiving responsibilities.

In fact, the primary barrier to work for low-income adults who want steady hours of employment is the state of the macroeconomy—conditions that are far beyond their control. Low-income adults’ employment rises when overall unemployment is low, and they work more hours and earn more as a result. When unemployment is high, however, low-income adults are often the first to lose their jobs and see large hour declines as well.

The report also compares the demographic and safety net profile of all adults ages 18 to 59 and adults who are on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, or food stamps) and Medicaid. Those receiving SNAP and Medicaid are disproportionately likely to be women and nonwhite, and they are also less likely to have a college education—only 15% of adults on SNAP and Medicaid have a bachelor’s degree or higher. Further, adults on SNAP and Medicaid are much more likely to have an elderly person in the household.

“Work requirements for safety net programs are a punitive solution that solves no real problem. They do not reliably increase employment, but they do kick people off essential benefits like food assistance and health care,” said Hilary Wething, EPI economist and author of the report. “If policymakers are genuinely concerned about improving access to work, they should support policies like affordable child and elder care.”