The Effects of Minimum Wages on Food Stamp Enrollment and Expenditures

Michael Reich and Rachel West

Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, 2015, vol. 54, issue 4, 668-694

Abstract: type="main" xml:id="irel12110-abs-0001">

We provide the first causal analysis of how minimum wages affects enrollments and expenditures in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Exploiting state- and federal-level variation in minimum-wage policy between 1990 and 2012, and incorporating local controls in our specifications, we find that a 10 percent minimum wage increase reduces SNAP enrollment between 2.4 and 3.2 percent, and reduces program expenditures an estimated 1.9 percent. If the federal minimum wage were increased from $7.25 to $10.10, enrollment would fall between 7.5 and 8.7 percent (3.1 to 3.6 million persons) relative to 2012 levels, and annual expenditures would decrease 6 percent ($4.6 billion).

Date: 2015
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