According to a recent Wall Street Journal study, food stamp enrollment has been soaring to record highs since 2008.
"Enrollment in SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) has soared 70 percent since 2008 to a record 47.8 million as of December 2012," according to SaintPetersBlog and the Wall Street Journal. In 2008, only 28.2 million people were enrolled in the program.
"In 1975, 8 percent of all Americans were on SNAP. That percentage is 15% today," a chart on WSJ read. "The Congressional Budget Office predicts unemployment will drop to 4.6 percent by 2017, but that SNAP enrollment will only drop to 43.3 million people."
There could be many reasons for the report such as poverty and a sluggish job market. However, SaintPetersBlog also pointed out another distinguishing reason as to why unemployment numbers and SNAP enrollment don't correlate.
"In President Bill Clinton's 1996 welfare overhaul...the law enabled states to ease asset and income tests for would-be participants, with the encouragement of the Obama administration, allowing into the program people with relatively higher incomes as well as savings," the blog said. "The new rules were designed to encourage people to take advantage of the program before they became destitute."
Although unemployment has dropped from 10 percent in October 2009 to 7.7 percent as of this past February, the numbers of SNAP enrollment, in accordance with the report, kept growing.
According to the chart, Mississippi has the highest rate of SNAP enrollment with 23 percent of the population enlisted in the program. States such as Tennessee, Oregon and New Mexico are currently at an equally staggering 21 percent.
