Declines in Food Stamp and Welfare Participation: Is There a Connection?

This paper finds that the continuing strong economy and federal reforms do not adequately explain the unprecedented decline in the food stamp caseload. At all levels of income, former welfare recipients left food stamps at higher rates than families who had not been on welfare. Most food stamp leavers had incomes that still left them eligible for benefits. Families who left welfare joined other low-income working families who have historically had low rates of participation in the food stamp program.