SNAP Participants’ Employment Patterns

This brief uses National Health Interview Survey data to identify key employment characteristics of SNAP participants with the goal of informing policymakers and stakeholders to create the best possible programs. Broad trends include lack of higher education, low incomes, and presence of a child in the household. Although most participants work, with employment being more likely for non-citizens, married, and healthy, only 50% report being food secure. Implications of these findings suggest that SNAP does not discourage work, but other barriers may prevent employment or job retention in vulnerable subgroups.