Tuesday, January 12, 2016

SNAP Food Stamp Participation: October 2015

As a logical consequence of the prolonged weak economic conditions, participation in the federal food stamp program remains at historic levels.

The latest data released by the Department of Agriculture indicated that in October, 47,097 individual recipients were removed from the food stamps program with the current total declining 2.43% on a year-over-year basis.

Individuals receiving food stamp benefits declined to 45.36 million which, as a ratio of the overall civilian non-institutional population now stands at a whopping 18.03% of the population.

Households receiving food stamps benefits declined to 22.38 million households with the current total falling 1.73% below the level seen a year earlier

Total nominal benefit cost declined 4.01% on a year-over-year basis to $5.73 billion for the month.