{"id":13482,"date":"2024-10-17T20:15:05","date_gmt":"2024-10-17T20:15:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=13482"},"modified":"2024-10-17T21:02:59","modified_gmt":"2024-10-17T21:02:59","slug":"work-requirement-waivers-increased-foodshare-caseloads-and-costs-in-wisconsin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=13482","title":{"rendered":"Work requirement waivers increased FoodShare caseloads and costs in Wisconsin"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post originally appeared at https:\/\/www.badgerinstitute.org\/work-requirement-waivers-increased-foodshare-caseloads-and-costs-in-wisconsin\/<\/a><\/p>\n

There are ways to reverse the damage state policies did<\/strong><\/em><\/h4>\n

Employment plays a crucial role in helping families escape poverty and move up the income ladder. The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, created through welfare reform in 1996, showed that linking government assistance to work could increase employment and decrease poverty among single-mother families.<\/p>\n

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The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as food stamps, also contains a work requirement. In this report, Badger Institute Visiting Fellow Angela Rachidi explores how its usefulness has been blunted.<\/p>\n

\u202fAble-bodied adults without dependent children \u2014 abbreviated as ABAWDs \u2014 can receive SNAP benefits for only three months in a three-year period unless they worked or participated in a work-like activity for 80 hours on average per month.<\/p>\n

This requirement, however, has been far from absolute. Federal lawmakers allowed states to waive it in certain circumstances, and Wisconsin officials have done so much of the time.<\/p>\n

The result has been higher FoodShare caseloads and expenditures, likely leading to less employment and more government dependency.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Read the policy report<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Here, Rachidi analyzes FoodShare data from 2012 to 2023. Her results suggest that waiving the work requirement led to an increase of 780 adults receiving FoodShare on average per county per month during this time \u2014 approximately 56,160 more FoodShare adults across the state.<\/p>\n

What can Wisconsin do? Rachidi recommends this:<\/p>\n