If Mexicans are willing to come here to work, why shouldn’t unemployed Americans have to work if they want food stamps?
That question sounds logical. Yet, beware the simple on a topic as complex as work and food in America.
Let’s start with some basics…
- Many people on food stamps have jobs.
- For decades it has been a requirement that those who can work need to work (or be looking for work) if they want food stamps.
- Federal regulations and law delineate a subgroup of citizens, “Able Bodied Adults Without Dependents,” who may only get food stamps for three months unless they are working or looking for work.
Seems simple. Except…
► What does “able bodied” mean? Per federal definitions, it applies to a person who can do any ‘meaningful work’ – even if the individual has significant health issues such as a bad back or a heart condition which preclude them from most occupations. (In modern America that includes a lot of people.)
► Who isn’t “able bodied?” For food stamps it’s anyone age 50 or older, anyone recognized by Social Security as disabled (or, a veteran receiving payments for a significant level of impairment), and persons who can be shown to not be able to do ‘meaningful work’ yet don’t reach the Social Security disability threshold.
► What happens where there are no jobs a worker can do in their community?
► What if employers won’t provide the minimum 20 hours per week necessary to every employee?
Now for decades federal food stamp administrators recognized that some communities – at times entire states – had high unemployment which prevented even the most deserving people from getting adequate work. And, the government does not – can not – force an unemployed person to abandon their home town, their family and friends to move to an area where there could be jobs. As a result, states routinely received waivers from the “must work” rule for some areas.
(By the way, a major reason for that approach was employers fearful that their work force would disperse during even a short lay-off. They wanted their workers to stay in place and wait for the work to return instead of having to recruit and train new folks.)
The new Trump rules – pushed by some Republicans then dropped during the debate over the Farm Bill – make it much harder for a state to get a waiver, even in times as bad as the Great Recession.
Meanwhile, the ‘not quite disabled but virtually unemployable’ exemption essentially disappeared because states are unwilling to investigate and certify that class of people. For example, Tourette’s Syndrome does not guarantee a disability rating. Yet, what employer wants a receptionist or call center worker or cashier with Tourette’s? Under the new rules they still need to work.
Here in Missouri better than 50% of the state’s population is concentrated in seven counties, plus St. Louis City. More than two dozen counties have less than 10,000 people each, including Worth County with about 3/10th of 1% of the state’s residents within its boundaries. How many jobs can a county with 2,000 residents support? The new Trump food stamp rules will hurt such rural, low population areas hardest.
Back in the mid-1970’s I was a full time college student and a part-time, hourly worker in a Venture store. Fate put me in charge of several departments in the store. (The area had two full time employees. One was on medical leave and the other skedaddled to manage a Pizza Hut.) Even with 80 labor hours a week off the books, I was told I could only give the other part timers 15 to 20 hours a week. No matter how much you need to work, if you work for someone they determine how much work you get.
An employee getting food stamps doesn’t get credit for working 19 hours a week. No, anything less than 20 hours every week counts as Zero.
Alas, that’s not new in Missouri. Parents on Temporary Assistance have been held to that ’20 or nothing’ rule for years.
So, yes, it’s great that Mexicans will walk to Missouri to roof houses or weed vegetables. That doesn’t mean every native without work can get a job they can do and meets food stamp rules. Life is complicated.
Glenn