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What percentage of food stamp recipients have part-time jobs?
Executive Summary
A plurality of analyses of SNAP participants finds that many recipients are working, often in part-time or unstable jobs: multiple reports estimate that roughly half of working-age, non-disabled SNAP participants worked in a typical month and about three-quarters worked in the year surrounding that month, while household-level data show that about 28–30 percent of SNAP households report earnings and that part-time work is common among working households [1] [2] [3] [4]. Recent work also highlights that measured employment varies by the unit of analysis — individuals versus households — and by the timeframe used (monthly versus annual), producing different percentages and policy implications [5] [1].
1. Why numbers diverge: monthly snapshots versus annual experience that changes the headline
Analysts repeatedly emphasize that the choice of timeframe matters: studies that look at a typical month of SNAP participation find about 55 percent of working-age, non‑disabled participants were working in that month, whereas analyses that expand the window to the year before and after that month find 74 percent had work during that broader period, showing the prevalence of intermittent employment among recipients [1] [2] [6]. By contrast, fiscal-year household tabulations from USDA report that 28 percent of SNAP households had earnings in FY2023, a lower figure because households — not individuals — may include non-working members and because annual earnings measures capture different dynamics than month-to-month employment indicators [3]. These methodological distinctions explain why claims about what "percentage" of food stamp recipients work can legitimately vary without contradicting each other, and they underscore that part-time and unstable employment is widespread among those who do work [4].
2. Who is counted matters: individuals, households, and disability status reshape the picture
The population under study affects the percentages that emerge. Reports that exclude people receiving disability benefits and focus on working-age adults find higher shares of work because they remove non-working populations more likely to be medically exempt; those studies show a majority working either in a month or over a year [1] [2] [5]. USDA household statistics capture all households receiving SNAP, including elderly, disabled, and non-worker households, and therefore report lower shares of households with earnings [3]. SNAP Quality Control analyses further break down working households to show that of the roughly 30 percent of households with a worker, about 23 percent include a part-time worker and only about 6 percent include a full-time worker, highlighting that part-time work dominates among working SNAP households [4].
3. Policy debates hinge on instability, not just employment rates
Policy discussions about work requirements and benefit reductions treat job stability and labor market conditions as central. Advocates caution that while many SNAP participants work at some point in a year, their employment is often low-paid, part-time, or intermittent, leaving them vulnerable to benefit loss under strict work-reporting regimes; research argues that tightening requirements without addressing macroeconomic weakness or barriers to sustained employment is unlikely to improve outcomes and will likely reduce participation among people who need assistance [7] [1]. Conversely, reports that document high annual employment rates among non-disabled working-age participants are used to argue that SNAP serves many workers and that the program functions as a bridge in volatile labor markets [5] [1]. Both perspectives rely on the same empirical pattern — prevalent intermittent work — but diverge on whether policy should condition benefits more tightly.
4. Reconciling the estimates: a composite view for policy and public understanding
A reconciled reading of the evidence yields a clear composite: about half of working-age, non-disabled SNAP participants work in a given month, roughly three-quarters work sometime in the surrounding year, and only about 28–30 percent of SNAP households report earnings across a fiscal year, with part-time work substantially outnumbering full-time work among working households [1] [2] [3] [4]. Recent advocacy and policy reports from 2024–2025 reiterate these patterns while emphasizing different implications: some emphasize the program’s role supporting workers with fluctuating wages, while others focus on alleged high rates of non-work depending on household measures [5] [1] [7]. The empirical convergence across methods is the prevalence of part-time and unstable employment among recipients who do work.
5. What this means for claims that "food stamp recipients have part-time jobs"
When asked what percentage of food stamp recipients have part-time jobs, the most defensible statement is nuanced: a substantial share of SNAP participants who work do so part-time, and part-time employment is the dominant form of work in SNAP households with earnings, but the precise percentage depends on whether you count individuals versus households and whether you measure employment in a month or across a year [4] [1] [2]. Policymakers and communicators should therefore avoid single-number headlines and instead cite the appropriate statistic for their claim — monthly worker share (~55%), annual worker share (~74%), or percent of households with earnings (~28%) — and note that part-time work predominates among working recipients [1] [3] [4].