Work Requirements Hurt Poor Families—and Won’t Work
“With the unemployment rate around 4% and people flooding back into the workforce, the question facing economic policy makers has changed: Once the cyclical recovery has fully run its course, what can be done to help into employment Americans still left behind? The answer offered by many Republicans is to increase work requirements on low-income benefits. The House farm bill would tighten eligibility for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as food stamps. States are doing the same for Medicaid under federal waivers. But such steps would jeopardize the health and nutrition of millions of Americans, while doing little to increase work.”