Thursday, February 11, 2016

SNAP Food Stamp Participation: November 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 November, 85,541 individual recipients were added to the food stamps program with the current total declining 1.75% on a year-over-year basis.

Individuals receiving food stamp benefits increased to 45.45 million which, as a ratio of the overall civilian non-institutional population now stands at a whopping 18.05% of the population.

Households receiving food stamps benefits increased to 22.41 million households with the current total falling 1.22% below the level seen a year earlier

Total nominal benefit cost declined 2.87% on a year-over-year basis to $5.73 billion for the month.