Fact check: What percentage of food stamp recipients have part-time versus full-time jobs?

1. Why figures clash: measuring the workforce two ways drives different headlines

Analysts use different denominators and timeframes, producing contradictory impressions about how many SNAP recipients work full‑time. One May 2024 study focused on able‑bodied adults and found only 38 percent employed in the snapshot period and just 18 percent working 20+ hours weekly to meet work rules, implying a large share did not meet labor thresholds ^[1]. By contrast, studies using broader measures of SNAP participants and looking across a full year find that a majority of working‑age, non‑disabled beneficiaries worked during the year (over 50 percent in the month, 74 percent in a 12‑month window for a 2015 cohort), indicating seasonal and episodic employment that monthly snapshots miss ^[2]. These methodological choices explain much of the divergence.

2. How “full‑time” and “part‑time” are being defined—and why it matters

Different sources use varying hour thresholds to define full‑time vs. part‑time work. One analysis emphasizing full‑time weekly employment reports that 70 percent of adult wage‑earning SNAP recipients worked full‑time every week and many worked nearly the whole year, which suggests stable full‑time employment among wage earners in that dataset ^[3]. Conversely, an expert at the American Enterprise Institute underlines that among SNAP households that do contain workers, many report part‑year or part‑week work, with only 6 percent reporting 40+ hours at the time of receipt—this portrays SNAP participation as concentrated among those with intermittent, low‑hour employment ^[6]. The choice of 20+ hours, 35–40+ hours, or annual consistency changes the headline.

3. Able‑bodied adults, exemptions, and the policy lens that skews the data

Policy discussions about SNAP work requirements frame analyses differently and can produce selective emphasis. Research targeting able‑bodied adults without dependents focuses on compliance with minimum work rules and often highlights low employment rates or insufficient hours ^[1]. Advocacy and research oriented toward the program’s role as a safety net emphasize that many recipients work some months or stop participation as earnings rise, portraying SNAP as temporary support during employment instability ^[2]. Both lenses are factual but serve distinct policy narratives—compliance versus safety net function—so the same underlying population gets described in divergent ways.

4. Recent policy changes and operational stress reshape the picture in 2025

New work requirements implemented in September 2025 and contemporaneous operational challenges—such as warnings about benefit distribution disruptions in late October 2025—affect both who is counted as working and who retains benefits ^{[4] [7]}. The policy change raising the floor to 20 hours of work or equivalent volunteer activity directly alters the measurement of “eligible” employed recipients and increases the administrative focus on hours reporting, likely reducing the share of recipients considered compliant if measured under the new rule. Operational disruptions risk removing benefits from people regardless of employment status, complicating any static percentage claim ^[7].

5. What the data agree on: employment is heterogeneous and often episodic

Across sources there is agreement that employment among SNAP recipients is not monolithic: many participants work at least some months, many rely on part‑year or part‑week employment, and a nontrivial share is not working in any given snapshot. Whether that nonworking share is characterized as a policy problem or as a reflection of temporary need depends on which subgroup (able‑bodied adults, households with children, disabled recipients) and timeframe analysts choose (monthly vs. annual) ^{[2] [1]}. This heterogeneity is the central reason single percentages are misleading without full methodological context.

6. What’s missing from the public record and why that matters for the question

Public summaries in the supplied materials do not present a single, nationally representative breakdown that simultaneously controls for age, disability status, household composition, monthly vs. annual work, and hours thresholds. Key omissions include standardized definitions of part‑time vs. full‑time, consistent time windows, and post‑2025 data that reflect the new work rules and operational stresses ^{[8] [5]}. Without harmonized, recent administrative data that stratifies recipients by these factors, any percentage claim will be incomplete and potentially misleading.

7. Bottom line for the original question: nuanced answer, not a single number

There is no consensus single percentage in the supplied analyses that cleanly answers “what percentage have part‑time versus full‑time jobs.” The evidence shows that some analyses find many recipients work intermittently or part‑time, other analyses report that a majority of wage‑earning recipients work full weeks or months in certain datasets, and policy changes in 2025 are altering the landscape ^{[6] [3] [4]}. To produce a definitive split, stakeholders need a consistent dataset that specifies population, timeframe, and hour thresholds, ideally using post‑September 2025 administrative SNAP records to reflect the current policy environment ^[5].