Emergency allotments central to SNAP spending growth during pandemic — Jordan W. Jones

Summary

A Chart of Note from the USDA Economic Research Service, by Jordan W. Jones and dated 8/23/2023, states that emergency allotments were central to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) spending growth during the pandemic. Inflation-adjusted spending rose from $67.5 billion in FY 2019 to $120.8 billion in FY 2021, an average 39.5-percent increase per year, while participation grew less than after the Great Recession, when it peaked at 47.6 million in FY 2013. In FY 2021, emergency allotments and other disaster supplements accounted for $39.2 billion, almost a third of total spending; without them spending was $81.6 billion. Emergency allotments ended in 17 States over FY 2021–22 and in the remainder of States in early 2023.

Summary drafted by a model from the document's text below and checked by script against that text before publication. It is a navigation aid, not a reading of what the document proves. Where AI is used

Full text

Emergency allotments central to SNAP spending growth during pandemic

- by Jordan W. Jones
- 8/23/2023

Download chart image

USDA’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is designed to expand during economic downturns. SNAP participation and inflation-adjusted spending grew each year from fiscal year (FY) 2007–13 following the Great Recession and from FY 2019–21 following the recession caused by the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. However, aspects of program growth differed between these periods. Average monthly participation increased faster, for longer, and by a greater amount following the Great Recession than it did after the COVID-19 recession, peaking at 47.6 million participants in FY 2013. Although participation grew less from FY 2019–21, inflation-adjusted spending rose more quickly given the shorter time span, from $67.5 billion in FY 2019 to $120.8 billion in FY 2021 (an average 39.5-percent increase per year). Emergency allotments were central to SNAP spending growth during the pandemic. Emergency allotments were issued as monthly supplements in response to the pandemic, bringing all recipients’ benefits to the maximum allowed each month beginning in 2020 (and later providing a minimum of $95 per month for all recipients). In FY 2021, emergency allotments and other disaster supplements accounted for $39.2 billion, almost a third of total spending. Excluding spending on emergency allotments and other disaster supplements, total spending was only $81.6 billion in FY 2021, about $15 billion less than FY 2013 spending, adjusting for inflation. Emergency allotments ended in 17 States over FY 2021–22 and in the remainder of States in early 2023. This chart appears in the USDA, Economic Research Service’s Amber Waves article, U.S. Food and Nutrition Assistance Programs Continued To Respond to Economic and Public Health Conditions in Fiscal Year 2022 , released August 2023.

Related Content

Get Charts of Note delivered!

Subscribe

See our Privacy Policy .

File and source

File

ers-chart-107184-ea.html

Size

38,479 bytes

SHA-256

00f005ff8fa7c71c935f6cdfdc1f59b134c0ce68279f5ae5cd0f0b9fce6c64d9

Our copy

ers-chart-107184-ea.html

Original

ers.usda.gov