The Effects of Reinstating ABAWD Work Requirements Following National Suspensions on SNAP Participation and Employment

Kaitlyn Wilson and Jordan W. Jones

No 404777, 2026 Annual Meeting, July 26 - 28, 2026, Kansas City, Missouri from Agricultural and Applied Economics Association

Abstract: Work requirements are a central feature of U.S. welfare program design. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) imposes a time limit on benefit receipt for able-bodied adults without dependents (ABAWDs) who do not meet work requirements. This time limit was suspended nationally during the Great Recession and the COVID-19 pandemic, with staggered reimplementation occurring at the county level following each suspension. We construct a novel county-month panel dataset on ABAWD waiver status and pair it with American Community Survey microdata to estimate the effects of time limit reimplementation using a triple-difference design that exploits variation across counties and age groups on either side of the work requirement eligibility cutoff. We find that reimplementation significantly reduced SNAP participation among ABAWDs subject to work requirements following the Great Recession suspension and increased employment and labor force participation among these adults in both reimplementation periods. We also identify impacts on similar older adults who were not subject to the work requirements, especially in the form of reduced SNAP participation, suggesting the role of indirect costs of par- ticipation associated with work requirements. Estimates on ABAWD SNAP benefits and earned income are consistent with the participation and employment findings, and mechanism analysis suggests the participation decline is at least partly driven by ABAWDs moving to employment and exiting SNAP—the generally intended effect of work requirements.

Keywords: Labor; and; Human; Capital (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 63
Date: 2026
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:aaea26:404777

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.404777

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